Kevin McCarty laughed last Monday when he said he has the ``worst job in state government.'' His job assessment may be slightly off the mark, but McCarty's timing is certainly questionable. McCarty came to work at the state's insurance department just a month before Hurricane Andrew wrecked South Miami-Dade. He took the top job at the Office of Insurance Regulation in early 2004, just in time to cope with four hurricanes that crisscrossed the state.

The insurance commissioner faced a repeat performance last year when four more hurricanes hit Florida, including the final blow, Wilma. The eight storms left insurers with $38 billion in losses and little desire to write policies in this state. The storms swamped a major insurer, Poe Financial Group, and left Florida with the messy task of mopping up after the largest insolvency it has ever faced.

Now, McCarty and his crew are facing a brewing crisis in Florida's insurance market. Home and commercial insurers are canceling policies by the thousands. Skyrocketing insurance rates have consumers and businesses spooked, some already are considering quitting the Sunshine State.

Trying to find a workable, speedy solution for this crisis is part of McCarty's task as the state's chief insurance regulator. He said some proposals could be ready for review by mid-July. He spoke with The Miami Herald last week during an appearance in Key West.

Q: Many businesses are facing hurricane season and haven't been able to buy windstorm coverage. Premiums are exorbitant and coverages are thin. Is this just a pricing crisis?

A: This goes beyond the control of the legislators, beyond the control of the regulators. [This crisis] is being driven by the cost of the global reinsurance market.

We could require companies to have billions of dollars in capital. But [that's] not enough to cover all the losses from a major storm. We rely very heavily on reinsurance.

And quite frankly, I think the reinsurers are taking advantage of the situation because where prices are is what the market will bear.

We're being punished by the pricing mechanisms in the private marketplace. That's just the reality. That's why we've been spearheading for years the establishment of a national catastrophe plan.

The same thing happened after Hurricane Andrew [in 1992] - we had a contraction in the market. One of the factors that helped us recover and create capacity in the market was the creation of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. It has been the anchor in terms of the revitalization of the Florida insurance market.

Q: Are there any possible near-term solutions, especially for the commercial insurance market?

A: Clearly, there's not much of an appetite for creating a primary market. So, the governor has asked me to look at the available strategies that we can utilize under the current law to see what we can do to provide capacity in the marketplace. It's not a matter of pricing.

Many people in the reinsurance market would say if we eliminated the approval process in Florida, quite frankly that wouldn't do it.

The surplus lines market, which charges whatever it wants to charge, has taken as much [exposure] as they can in certain parts of Florida. That's particularly hard in Southeast Florida. At any prices, they're not writing.

People are taking deductibles that are potentially ruinous to them, especially small businesses.