TALLAHASSEE, Florida, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Florida insurance officials on Tuesday received approval to explore setting up another state-run insurance pool to protect coastal businesses facing skyrocketing insurance rates or no coverage at all.

Rocked by devastating hurricane seasons, Florida businesses have found it increasingly difficult to obtain affordable coverage. Nearly one in five business owners polled by the state said they cannot find property insurance at any cost.

"This is a crisis that is deepening in Florida and will certainly jeopardize the future economic development of our state," Kevin McCarty, head of the department of insurance regulation, told Gov. Jeb Bush and top state officials.

Florida already has two such pools, or joint underwriting associations (JUAs), to protect homeowners and insurers.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund reimburses insurers following a catastrophic hurricane with damages in excess of $5.1 billion. Citizens Property Insurance Corp, a state-run insurer of last resort, covers 900,000 property owners, making it the No. 2 property insurer in Florida behind State Farm.

Bush directed McCarty to return next month with options.

Over the short term, McCarty said the state may become an insurer of last resort, directly providing commercial property insurance or working through private insurers to offer policies through a joint underwriting pool.

Over the long term, McCarty envisioned the state stepping back from being a direct insurer and providing incentives to reinsurers to return to the Florida market.

"The goal of doing this is to (be) the least intrusive to the private sector marketplace and provide a bridge until the marketplace comes back to some semblance of normal," McCarty said.

An executive for the private insurance market agreed, saying that although a temporary fix may require the state to enter the insurance business, a long-term strategy should focus on helping private insurers instead of competing against them.

"We consider a commercial JUA to be a temporary, short-term fix for the current availability problems in the commercial property market," said Cecil Pearce, southeast vice president of the American Insurance Association, in a prepared statement.

Political pressure is mounting to do something quickly, an urgency heightened by increased hurricane activity and upcoming elections.

"People need insurance and we are going to lose businesses that move out of Florida if they can't get it," said Tom Gallagher, Florida's chief financial officer and a Republican candidate for governor. "Time is of the essence."

Bush, also a Republican, has been urged to call a special session of the state legislature to address the issue, but the governor reiterated on Tuesday that he would do so only if there was consensus among lawmakers. He also said he's very leery of the state taking on a direct insurer role.

During a recent visit to Europe, Bush met with executives of Lloyds of London to see if there were short and long-term solutions. The results were discouraging.

"The Lloyds folks have been emphatic," Bush said. "They're saying there is too much exposure."

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