Easy come, easy go. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty was not elected. He was appointed. He can also be un-appointed, replaced, pretty much at the whim of Governor Rick Scott.
And, Scott has thought about it, going so far as to publicly float the name of a possible replacement: Louisiana Deputy Commissioner Ron Henderson.
Nine months later, McCarty is still on the job and standing tall. He’s been in office 12 years now, survived the whims of more than one governor and remains the only appointed insurance commissioner in the state’s history.
This month McCarty was honored by the Florida Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR) with its lifetime achievement award, complete with speeches and a gala banquet.
In announcing the award, FAIR said “McCarty is recognized as a champion for consumers and a stabilizing force in the property insurance market, balancing consumer protections with the need to return Citizens policyholders to the private market and reduce the risk of additional assessments for all Floridians.”
FAIR went on to tout McCarty for cutting workers’ comp rates in the state by more than 50%, managing the aftermath of multiple major storms and steering the state through the changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act.
