Given that, Seiler says, promising big savings to homeowners was a mistake. Still, he said, the reforms should work, but they need time.

Crist couldn't be reached. A spokeswoman pointed out the governor has repeatedly said the insurance plan in January was a big first step, and more changes are needed.

Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, said she has asked Insurance Commissioner McCarty to come to the next Cabinet meeting in two weeks to explain why insurers aren't filing for lower rates. ''It's very disturbing. But we don't have the facts and figures to say it was a mistake yet,'' Sink said.

A bigger problem, some legislators say, is the effect of the plan's freezing rates for Citizens until 2009.

If Citizens doesn't collect enough premiums to cover its losses, insurers have to pay out the money up front and then make it back from policyholders over time.

Insurers also fear they can't compete with Citizens' lower rates. Before January, Citizens was required by law to charge some of the highest rates in the state.

LAST RESORT

Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who cast one of the two votes in the 160-member Legislature against the plan, believes the state's plan was doomed from the start because the state can't tap banks or other sources of capital -- as private insurers can -- to replenish the CAT Fund if it runs dry. It has to assess Florida taxpayers.

Those assessments could be tacked onto all policies -- auto, homeowners, commercial -- for as long as 30 years.

Insurance agents such as Alex Soto, president of InSource, a Dadeland agency, also are worried about the additional risk the CAT Fund is taking on.

SPEED REQUIRED

The bill passed in January ''said insurers have to pay claims in 90 days. Then we create a hurricane fund that could be underfunded. You have to be careful what you wish for,'' he added.

To allay concerns about the CAT Fund's ability to pay claims quickly, officials approved plans this week to borrow $3 billion to $7 billion.

Those funds would be stashed in the bank, along with the $5.2 billion the CAT Fund expects to have by year's end from premiums collected from insurance companies and money borrowed last year. All would be available to cover claims.

While some lawmakers like Ross believe the state has no business being in the insurance business, others are considering moving in the opposite direction.

A proposal floating through Tallahassee would make Florida the windstorm insurer for the entire state. Bob Milligan, the state's insurance consumer advocate, has been studying this.

Said Sink: ``I have been open-minded about it. But I want to see more analysis. The very idea is pretty frightening to me.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.