“Here in Florida, as badly as we’ve been shafted by the insurance industry, I’m extremely skeptical of anyone taking that money,” said Ken Berry, a Merritt Island voter whose home premium jumped sixfold to $6,000, so high he can’t afford to buy it. Many of his neighbors, faced with the same financial crunch, are leaving.
“The ‘For Sale’ signs are going up all over my neighborhood,” Berry said, a fact he blames on politicians who “owe their allegiance, instead of to the people they’re representing, they owe it to big business.”
While the Republican Party of Florida collected $3.5 million from insurance companies and their executives, no candidate pulled in industry checks like Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher.
The former state insurance regulator’s run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination got a big initial kick from insurance interests. That sector’s contributions so far to Gallagher and a political committee set up to support him: $780,000.
Gallagher, whose honorary finance chairman, Tom Petway, runs an insurance company, said his public role is as consumer advocate.--news-press.com Tallahassee Bureau
He's been supported by all financial services. He's been a stellar CFO. Crist is supported by judges, "moderate" academics and illegals.
I don't really know much about Gallagher outside of his tenure as Ins Comm.
I don't consider that position to be a resume enhancer. Having been self employed most of my adult life, I have had the crap screwed out of me by health insurance companies. And I am not referring to high premiums and such. I understand the real world. I am talking about fraud, price fixing and refusal to honor contracts. Which is endemic in non-group health coverage. No, to be more accurate, it is SOP.
Anyway, I never received any help from the Florida Ins Comm office on anything, and some of the industry practices are out and out fraud. Unless they are standing in your living room while an insurance company employee is beating you with a baseball bat, they won't do squat.