Insurance Regulation News
Investors Recruit Terminally Ill To Outwit Insurers on Annuities
By MARK MAREMONT And LESLIE SCISM PROVIDENCE, R.I.—”Terminal Illness? $2,000 in CASH, Immediately Available.” That was the promise of an advertisement that appeared regularly in 2007 and 2008 in the Rhode Island Catholic, the official newspaper of the local diocese. The money, the ad said, was coming from a “compassionate organization” that wanted to provide …
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Insurance commissioner issues cease and desist orders
South Florida Business Journal – by Oscar Pedro Musibay Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has issued cease and desist order to three entities, including Sunrise-based National Automotive Services and its subsidiaries, for selling services without a license. In addition to National Automotive Services, McCarty issued orders to National Home Protection and Nationwide Home Warranty, according …
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Legislature tries again to tackle insurance mess
Posted on Thu, Feb. 18, 2010 By BRENT KALLESTAD Associated Press Writer Randi Schuknecht worried that her longtime, established insurance company was about to leave Florida – and leave her without a homeowner’s policy. So she found a new insurer – one she wouldn’t have to worry about if a big storm struck the state …
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Bills would allow property insurers to raise rates in Florida
Companies say they haven’t been able to build claims-paying reserves By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel 9:38 PM EST, February 23, 2010 Edsel Hulse, a veteran who lives in Hollywood, said he’s expecting his Citizens Property Insurance Corp. windstorm insurance policy premium to increase this year because state legislators in 2009 approved allowing the insurer to …
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Travel agencies accused of selling bogus insurance policies
Regulators charged several Florida travel agencies with licensing and insurance infractions. The actions were part of year-long investigation into bogus travel insurance. BY DIANE LADE Sun Sentinel State regulators are charging six travel agencies, including one in Boynton Beach, with using unlicensed agents to sell bogus trip insurance policies through a company never authorized to …
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Board defers hurricane reimbursement
By BRENT KALLESTAD – Associated Press TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday he needs some answers before giving the OK to pay $710 million in late-filed or renewed insurance claims from Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Crist and two members of the independently elected Cabinet, sitting as the State Board of Administration, deferred on …
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Florida OIR relaxes rule for German reinsurer
Jacksonville Business Journal by Rachel Witkowski Staff Writer A German reinsurance company is the first foreign reinsurer to get a collateral reduction incentive from the state regulator for covering the insurance companies that keep property owners insured and bringing capital to a hurricane-prone state. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported Wednesday that Hannover Rueckversicherung …
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Legislative issue: Getting cozy with property insurance industry
February 28, 2010 With each year that a hurricane doesn’t make landfall in Florida, the political muscle of the insurance industry surges back. Anti-industry sentiment peaked with Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2006 election and the skyrocketing premiums that hit consumers after the devastating 2004 and 2005 seasons. Three years removed from sweeping changes in insurance regulation …
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Home Insurance Industry Is Fraught With Risks
coverage in Florida By PAIGE ST. JOHN NYT REGIONAL MEDIA GROUP Published: Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 11:58 p.m. Last Modified: Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 11:58 p.m. Millions of Floridians now bet their homes on property insurers that teeter on the edge of financial failure, a Herald-Tribune investigation has found. These companies look nothing …
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Four tests that helped to generate property insurers’ safety scores
By Paige St. John Published: Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 10:20 p.m. In the absence of publicly reported safety scores for Florida property insurers, the Herald-Tribune used standard industry measures to generate its own. After consulting with industry regulators, academics, consumer watchdogs and industry insiders, the …
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Justices get rental car liability case
By BILL KACZOR – Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE — An accident victim’s lawyer Thursday urged the state Supreme Court to rule that rental car companies can be held liable for damages in an accident they did not cause in Florida, even though a new federal law is designed to shield the companies. The legal concept …
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Insurance Reform is needed in Florida
Published Friday, March 5, 2010 by Joe Shea Floridians are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea when it comes to the insurance industry. While we have had aggressive regulation of pricing by the State Insurance Commissioner in the past few years, we have had enormous insurance industry losses due to the 2004 …
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Senators narrowly reject insurance watchdog’s proposal
by Julie Patel on March 5, 2010 10:07 AM The Florida Senate’s insurance committee narrowly struck down a proposal from Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw this week that would allow his office to participate in insurance rate hearings. It would specifically give his office access to confidential documents involved in calculating rates so it can …
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Florida’s unacceptable risk
Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, March 5, 2010 at 5:52 p.m. Florida homeowners have learned to live with the risk of hurricanes. They shouldn’t have to live with the risk that their property insurer won’t cover their losses if disaster strikes. Yet, as detailed last Sunday in a Herald-Tribune …
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More new Florida property insurers in trouble
The Associated Press Several more small startup property insurers in Florida are headed for insolvency, leaving tens of thousands of homeowners looking for a new company as hurricane season approaches June 1. Florida regulators are working quickly to mesh the troubled insurers with larger companies to soften the impact on home and business owners. The …
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Bennett has filed a bevy of insurance bills
By SARA KENNEDY – skennedy@bradenton.com MANATEE — State Sen. Mike Bennett is a prolific filer of bills, and again this year, he’s proposing a number of changes to state insurance laws. The Bradenton Republican has filed a bill dealing with title insurance, one addressing Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and even a bill about the director …
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Balance insurance reform: No free-market solution for a broken market
Unfortunately, the Legislature doesn’t want to revisit one of the most creative proposals for Florida’s property insurance problem. So consumers will have to hope that the Legislature tries to improve the current system in a way that doesn’t give all the benefits to the insurers. Some legislators would “fix” the problem by letting all companies …
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Barney Bishop: Hurricane tax won’t stabilize insurance
Barney Bishop • My View • March 16, 2010 As the state legislative session kicked off this month, I began to wonder if I was experiencing deja vu. While it is not unusual to champion a legislative cause for more than one year, how many years will it take for the Florida Legislature to return …
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House committee passes property-insurance proposal
Paul Flemming • The News-Press Capital Bureau • March 17, 2010 5:44 P.M. — TALLAHASSEE — A proposal to allow property-insurance companies to raise homeowners rates without regulatory approval passed a first House committee Wednesday and was amended to include much of an insurance industry wish list. Its supporters say the proposal would attract more …
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Bill would let property insurers raise premiums up to 15% without state approval
By Michael Peltier News Service of Florida Posted: 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, 2010 TALLAHASSEE — Property insurers would be able to raise premiums without regulatory approval, but only by up to 15 percent a year, under a wide-ranging insurance approved in a House committee Wednesday. The proposal (HB 447) was amended to add the 15 percent cap on unregulated …
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Property insurers’ breaking point
Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 9:06 p.m. In response to “How insurers make millions on the side:” The unfortunate truth is that during the past several years, government has passed laws and pursued a regulatory environment that has pushed the property insurance market to the …
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State lawmaker wants investigation of insurance companies
State Rep. Alan Hays on Wednesday called for the Legislature to investigate property insurance companies in Florida, noting the millions executives made in bonuses and other perks as the companies threatened to leave Florida and begged the state for higher rates to make them profitable. “We certainly need to have answers as to whether the …
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Insurers losing money despite lack of storms
Most insurance companies in the red even with Florida’s dearth of hurricanes By BEATRICE E. GARCIA – bgarcia@miamiherald.com After four hurricane-free years in central and South Florida, insurance companies should have been raking in the profits. All that premium money pouring in — and no big catastrophe claims checks going out. Not so. Most of …
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Property insurance shams
Demand transparency, then talk deregulation News-Journal editorial March 20, 2010 12:05 AM Posted in Editorials Officially, Florida’s property-insurance industry is regulated by the Office of Insurance Regulation. Insurers have to justify their property-insurance premium rate increases to gain approval from regulators. In reality, regulation is superficial, often resembling the shell game insurers play to …
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Reject bill that lets insurers raise rates without oversight
Our views: Don’t deregulate (March 23) March 23, 2010 A bad property insurance bill that passed the Florida Legislature in 2009 but was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist has raised its ugly head again: A bid to let insurers raise rates without proving they’re justified to the state Office of Insurance Regulation. The bill has …
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Crist and Senate at odds over insurance rate bill
By CATHERINE WHITTENBURG cwhittenburg@tampatrib.com Published: March 25, 2010 TALLAHASSEE – A Senate panel voted on Wednesday to let property insurers raise their rates without approval from regulators, despite public urging from Gov. Charlie Crist that lawmakers reject the plan. Crist vetoed a similar bill last year that would have empowered large property insurers to set …
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Still deregulation, still bad: Property insurers keep seeking their favors.
Opinion blogs By The Palm Beach Post Posted: 6:42 p.m. Thursday, March 25, 2010 Technically speaking, the Legislature’s property insurance deregulation bill isn’t a deregulation bill anymore. Practically speaking, the Legislature’s property insurance deregulation bill remains exactly that. In their first versions, House Bill 447 and Senate Bill 876 would have allowed the 200-plus companies that write property insurance in …
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Senate bill would allow major home insurance rate hikes
March 25, 2010|By Julie Patel, South Florida Sun Sentinel The Senate’s insurance committee passed a bill Wednesday that would essentially allow home insurance rates to rise by a statewide average of up to 33 percent in the next three years. “Couple that with the 10 percent annual increase passed by this committee last week, and …
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More homeowners’ insurance headaches
Mr. Crist needs to squash the latest effort to deregulate the homeowners’ market. Here’s why Gov. Crist might soon need to grab a great big Sharpie and veto legislation that lets property insurers impose great big rate hikes on policy holders without regulatory review. The reason comes straight from one of the insurance industry’s top …
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Former Fla. governor backing consumer options
By BRENT KALLESTAD – Associated Press Writer Tallahassee politicians must ensure a robust private property insurance market to avoid a financial disaster if a major hurricane or several smaller storms strike the state this summer, former Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday. The two-term governor said it’s critical that a measure similar to one vetoed by …
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State insurers leave charities vulnerable
Ted Granger – Guest Opinion • news-press.com • March 30, 2010 With one month left in the 2010 state legislative session and the Atlantic hurricane season right around the corner, I am concerned about the risk associated with the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (CAT Fund) and Citizens Property Insurance. As president of the United Way …
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Citizens not the best option for consumers
By Steve Pociask April 1, 2010 Imagine state government setting up a company to compete against private businesses. Suppose this government company begins selling products and services below cost, driving companies out of the market and leading to layoffs. Now, imagine the government business, realizing its prices are too low, decides to recoup losses by …
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Workers’ compensation might be extended to Florida employees hurt in Haiti
By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel 7:00 p.m. EDT, March 31, 2010 Florida employees who are sent to Haiti for rebuilding efforts and are injured could be covered by their standard workers’ compensation policy under a request submitted to Florida’s insurance department Tuesday. Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink sent a request March 2 to …
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Insurance politics is costing Floridians
By Don Brown April 2, 2010 Florida is in the grip of a failing insurance regulatory system that’s unjustly taxing residents, jeopardizing their insurance security and intruding upon consumer choices. This is abundantly clear from the alarming number of property insurers that are teetering on insolvency. A recent Sarasota Herald-Tribune report revealed that “during the …
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Put property insurance on firm ground
The Tampa Tribune Published: April 5, 2010 Property insurance in Florida, as Rep. Bill Proctor of St. Augustine says, is a house of cards. One major storm would blow it all away and with it the state’s economic future. Legislation sponsored by Proctor would begin to establish a market-based foundation for the state’s property insurance. …
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Pay now for homeowner’s insurance, or pay later, but we’re paying
By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist In Print: Sunday, April 4, 2010 Hey, do you want to pay more for insurance on your house? I’m taking a wild guess that your answer is “no.” So you might not like a bill in our Legislature that would let insurance companies charge more. It’s a “deregulation” bill to …
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Editorial: Homeowners at risk
04/06/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat (Requires Login) Lawmakers seem increasingly prepared, and so they should be, to challenge Gov. Charlie Crist’s threat to once again veto legislation that would open up the property insurance market and make it stable enough to ensure property owners would actually get a payout if the worst comes to pass. In …
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State-dominated insurance system poses threat to Florida’s economy
By STATE REP. BILL PROCTOR, COMMUNITY VOICES A serious threat to Florida’s economic recovery is the possibility that a major hurricane will strike a large metropolitan area this summer or next. The resulting damage to residential and commercial properties could exceed $80 billion. Many of the claims would be the responsibility of the state. Unfortunately, …
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Editorial: Higher rates, or ruin?
April 7, 2010 The “news” about hurricane insurance in Florida isn’t new. The only question is what will be done. Florida TaxWatch this week reminded Floridians of the situation: Our state is one big hurricane (or several smaller ones) from financial disaster. With state-run Citizens Property Insurance having sopped up an unacceptable amount of risk, …
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EDITORIAL: Cloudy forecast
April 07, 2010 08:00:00 AM It’s been nearly five years since a hurricane made landfall in Florida. Despite that stretch of good fortune, the state’s property insurance market remains as tenuous as a Charlie Sheen marriage. A report released Monday by Florida TaxWatch warned that the state remains one major hurricane away from financial ruin. …
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Editorial: Hurricane risk
Published: Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 5:12 p.m. To avoid a political hurricane over property insurance premiums, Florida elected officials have opted to keep insurance rates artificially low while piling more and more of the risk on the state-owned Citizens Property Insurance and the Hurricane Catastrophe …
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Insurers giving second look to windstorm mitigation discounts
By GRACE GAGLIANO – ggagliano@bradenton.com BRADENTON — Homeowners whose insurance premiums have a windstorm mitigation discount could be getting a reinspection notice from their insurance provider. Due to widespread property inspection fraud, insurance companies are starting to reinspect homes that have received favorable marks for hurricane protection, said Sam Miller, executive vice president of the …
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Miami-based Northern Capital Insurance goes under
With Miami-based Northern Capital Insurance no longer solvent, thousands of South Florida homeowners will need to find a new insurance company. BY NIRVI SHAH nshah@MiamiHerald.com Less than two months before the start of hurricane season, Miami-based Northern Capital Insurance is going under. State insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said this week that Northern Capital, with about …
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Expect insurance chaos if hurricane hits hard
Mike Thomas COMMENTARY 10:01 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2010 The water is warm, the upper atmosphere is calming, and so the hurricanes are predicted to howl this season. If we get hit hard, this is what will happen: A number of small, startup insurance companies that now dominate Florida’s market will fail. The state-owned Citizens …
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Head or heart? The Florida Legislature tackles the property insurance reform package
Posted: April 11, 2010 – 10:10am In the next few weeks, members of the Florida Legislature will have to choose between their heads and their hearts. If they listen to their heads, they will pass Rep. Bill Proctor’s property insurance reform package. If they listen to their hearts, or their political instincts, they will reject it. …
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Florida insurers’ fees to affiliates questioned
Consumer advocates call for more scrutiny as insurers report losses and request rate hikes By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel 2:54 a.m. EDT, March 29, 2010 Florida property insurers are pressing state legislators to allow them to raise rates without regulator approval, citing losses in recent years. But consumer advocates and regulators question the legitimacy of …
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Tussle in Tallahassee over insurance rates control
By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER H-T Capital Bureau Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 11:51 p.m. TALLAHASSEE – Call it Round 3 between the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist. Earlier in the session, Crist vetoed a campaign fundraising bill championed by top Republicans. This week, lawmakers and the …
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Consumer choice insurance best plan
Posted: April 18, 2010 – 12:11am State Rep. Bill Proctor’s House Bill 447 — aimed at consumer choice in property insurance and deregulation of rates — heads to the state House floor Tuesday. Backers are optimistic it will pass both the House and the Senate, where a companion bill (SB 876) is moving through committees. …
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Property insurance changes in works
By JOHN FRANK – Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE — State Rep. Rick Kriseman is a reluctant expert on property insurance. A fire torched his home. His previous Florida-based insurer faltered. His rates jumped 90 percent in the last year. And now the St. Petersburg Democrat is sounding an alarm about legislative efforts to revamp the …
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Senate’s insurance bill fair: But House bill would let premiums skyrocket
As usual, the property insurance bills before the Legislature are long and technical, but it’s easy to tell which one is better for consumers. The House continues to push for deregulation, which would allow all of Florida’s 200-plus property insurers to charge whatever premiums they wanted — without review by the Office of Insurance Regulation. …
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Insurance proposals don’t have consumers in mind
A Times Editorial In Print: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 It is no secret that Florida’s property insurance market is far from healthy. More than 1 in 4 homeowners are insured by the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and private coverage remains unaffordable or unavailable in many areas. But it also is no secret that too …
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Property insurance bills seemingly collapse in Florida Legislature
Posted: April 21, 2010 – 8:19pm By Brandon Larrabee TALLAHASSEE – Efforts to ease regulations on property insurance premiums appeared to collapse Wednesday, with both the House and Senate postponing votes on measures that would overhaul insurance rules. But a key House lawmaker said some changes could still gain approval before the legislative session ends …
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Risky insurance regulation
Florida bends over backward to keep shaky insurers afloat Published: Friday, April 23, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 6:56 p.m. Whose side are Florida’s insurance regulators on: the consumers’ or the companies’? That a question that the public and the Legislature should be asking, in light of a Herald-Tribune …
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Fla. sponsor of property insurance reform measure pulls bill after unfriendly amendments
BRENT KALLESTAD Associated Press Writer 8:07 a.m. EDT, April 23, 2010 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Property insurance reform has eluded state lawmakers for several years, and it seems as if it could slip out of their grasp this year as well. With a week to go in the 2010 legislative session, the Republican-led Legislature appears …
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No sunny outlook for Florida’s insurance market
By Benjamin Zycher April 25, 2010 The sun doesn’t always shine in the Sunshine State. But for many career public officials, maybe the sun will come out tomorrow, and every day until the next election; and after that, the weather will be someone else’s problem. That mindset explains the willingness of Gov. Charlie Crist to …
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Lawmakers in Legislature scramble as session nears an end
By Aaron Deslatte Tallahassee Bureau April 26, 2010 TALLAHASSEE – Florida lawmakers are set to close a 60-day session dominated by election-year rancor, symbolic appeals to anti- Barack Obama voters, and a civil war that has pitted Republicans against their own governor. With five more days until the curtain falls on the 2010 legislative session, …
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Insurance bills near zero hour in Tallahassee
By Paige St. John Published: Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 23, 2010 at 9:34 p.m. When Republican leaders, under threat of veto, pulled a bill that would allow property insurers to raise rates without regulation, many consumers breathed a sigh of relief. Not so fast. Another bill, passed by …
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Allstate arm writing new policies
6:30 P.M. — Castle Key Insurance Cos. plans to write 50,000 additional homeowners and renters insurance policies in Florida through 2011, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said Wednesday. The policies, which will be written on property throughout the state, may include policies now held by Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer. Castle Key …
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House passes legislation allowing Florida property insurers to raise rates
By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel 8:14 p.m. EDT, April 28, 2010 The Florida House passed a broad measure Wednesday to strengthen the state’s property insurance market by raising rates and lowering insurers’ claims costs. The bill, SB 2044, cleared the Florida Senate last week and was approved Wednesday by the House with a minor change. …
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Public adjusters’ role in question
BY JOHN FRANK Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE — A major property insurance bill is mired down with time running short in the legislative session. The latest sticking point is the ability of public adjusters to handle property insurance claims for home owners. SB 2044 would reduce the time a home owner can file or reopen …
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Insurance Bill Aims to Cut Both Ways
Legislation would reduce some consumer protections, may be vetoed. By PAIGE ST. JOHN NYT REGIONAL MEDIA GROUP Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:15 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:15 p.m. In the final hours of their session, state lawmakers Friday approved an insurance bill that would curb some consumer protections and …
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Insurance bill not assured of Crist veto
By JOHN FRANK – Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE — The veto watch began Monday for an industry-backed insurance bill that received limited vetting as it won approval in the final moments of the legislative session. It’s a remake of last year when lawmakers left town and dumped a big property insurance bill in Gov. Charlie …
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Property insurance rates rising? Bill advances to Crist
By Julie Patel Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer State lawmakers passed a sweeping measure last week to strengthen the state’s property insurance market by making it easier for insurers to raise rates. The bill, SB 2044, goes to Gov. Charlie Crist. He has said he doesn’t support anything to allow rate increases, but he hasn’t made a …
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Insurance regulator pushes Gov. Crist to sign measure allowing certain rate hikes
Posted by Julie Patel on May 10, 2010 01:30 PM Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty wrote a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist today to encourage him to sign a sweeping measure that would allow certain property insurance rate hikes and lower costs for insurers. “This bill is an important piece of legislation that benefits the …
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11th Circuit Court Affirms Coventry Decision
Coventry First, LLC v Kevin McCarty, Commissioner of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (11th Circuit Court of Appeals) The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on May 5, 2010 affirming a decision by the Northern District of Florida dismissing Coventry First LLC’s complaint for injunctive relief. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation …
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Bill before Crist eases rate hikes, curbs payouts
By Julie Patel Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer Updated: 10:16 p.m. Monday, May 10, 2010 Posted: 10:15 p.m. Monday, May 10, 2010 A bill that could raise some insurance premiums for property owners and reduce the costs of processing claims for insurance companies is waiting for Gov. Charlie Crist’s signature or veto. What’s unclear is what Crist – now an independent U.S. Senate candidate – will do. …
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Sink: Regulatory approach on policies has changed
The Florida Cabinet will discuss property insurance regulation changes that one member called a `fundamental shift in strategy.’ BY NIRVI SHAH nshah@MiamiHerald.com Changes in the way property insurance is regulated in Florida will be discussed at a meeting of the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday. Late last month, state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink demanded answers …
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Insurance commissioner asks Crist to sign measure
By MICHAEL PELTIER The News Service of Florida Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 10:34 p.m. TALLAHASSEE – Placed in a relatively unusual position, Florida’s top insurance regulator urged his boss, a possibly reluctant governor, to sign recently enacted property insurance legislation that has the department’s …
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Insurers brace for start of hurricane season
Homeowners, state face the unknown By VALERIE WHITNEY, Business Writer May 12, 2010 12:05 AM ORMOND BEACH — In less than three weeks, homeowners and insurance companies will be face-to-face with the dreaded time of year — hurricane season. In preparation for the unknown, officials with Security First Insurance Co. spent time recently testing out …
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Florida Property Insurers Head Into Hurricane Season with Fingers Crossed
By Brent Kallestad May 14, 2010 Florida’s property insurance companies haven’t suffered hurricane losses for nearly five years, but many claim to be losing money even while collecting hefty premiums. It’s a complex paradigm for almost anyone to follow. “We keep going round and round and we always end up back at square one,” Agriculture …
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Property Insurers Watching Ominous Hurricane Forecasts
May 17, 2010 After significant catastrophe losses in first quarter 2010, U.S. property/casualty insurers and global reinsurers are hoping their balance sheets don’t face further financial risks, even as conditions appear ripe for the upcoming hurricane season to be potentially as active as 2005. The industry enters the season on the strength of underwriting and …
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Consumer advocates divided on property insurance bill as it hits Crist’s desk
Posted by Julie Patel on May 17, 2010 07:45 PM Consumer advocates are divided on a property insurance bill that aims to strengthen the state’s property insurance market by making it easier for insurers to raise rates and reduce certain claims costs. Gov. Charlie Crist received the bill, SB 2044, on Monday and has 15 …
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State’s bonding is in good shape for storm season
By MICHAEL PELTIER The News Service of Florida Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 9:28 p.m. TALLAHASSEE – Easing credit markets and more favorable rates will allow Florida officials to borrow more than $15.9 billion and meet all its obligations for the upcoming hurricane season, the …
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EDITORIAL: Looking for relief
May 21, 2010 08:00 AM Now that he’s declared himself a newborn independent candidate for the U.S. Senate, Gov. Charlie Crist seemingly has searched for opportunities to position his thumb on the tip of his nose and wiggle his four fingers at Republican legislators. However, with regard to a new property insurance bill, he should …
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The more insurers, the cheaper the rates
BY SCOTT B. CLARK SClark@dadeschools.net The 21st century is scarcely 10 years old. But Americans are constantly reminded that natural and man-made disasters are as prevalent as ever. The oil rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana and the coal mine catastrophe in West Virginia remind Americans of the terrible costs of industrial disasters. In …
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Florida rules to rigid, property insurers contend
STORM SEASON Florida insurance regulators disputed accusations that they pose a worse threat than hurricanes to the property insurance industry. BY NIRVI SHAH nshah@MiamiHerald.com Hurricanes aren’t the real threat to the Florida insurance industry. It’s the regulators that do the damage, the head of an industry-backed nonprofit said Wednesday at the annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference …
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EDITORIAL: Vetoing reality
June 08, 2010 08:01:00 AM Gov. Charlie Crist thinks Florida’s property insurance market is doing just swell as is. And why wouldn’t he? He helped make it what it is today, so it’s in his interest to promote that fiction. The reality, though, should make everyone less sanguine. Crist last week vetoed yet another insurance …
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State still needs insurance reform
Sunday letters: Florida still needs to reform property insurance In Print: Sunday, June 13, 2010 ——————————————————————————– Earlier this month, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed Senate Bill 2044, delivering a crushing blow to the state’s ability to effectively manage the financial impact of future catastrophic storms. SB 2044 sought to reform Florida’s insurance marketplace, and in particular, …
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Special session could bring veto overrides to Tallahassee
Submitted by Abel Harding on June 15, 2010 – 6:37pm Abel Harding A special session of the Florida Legislature could hand Republicans an opportunity to override some of Gov. Charlie Crist’s vetoes, State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said in an interview today. Among the bills likely open for discussion would be SB 2044, an …
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Letters: Crist was wrong to veto property insurance bill
Florida’s property insurance system continues to confront the problem of a huge and growing financial risk that all residents face from the next storm. Home, auto and business insurers understand the concerns of consumers and public policymakers about the cost of property insurance in Florida, and we want to work to develop effective, long-term solutions …
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‘People’s’ governor hurts flock with property insurance veto
By JEFFREY GRADY Special To The Tampa Tribune Published: June 20, 2010 By vetoing Senate Bill 2044, Gov. Charlie Crist not only secured his place as one of the least consistent politicians in Florida’s history, he established himself as one of the most selfish.
Florida insurance regulators: state’s catastrophic risk overblown
State officials are contesting a congressional report that said Florida’s government-backed and private insurers would be on the hook for up to $2.57 trillion in damage claims, in the event of a catastrophic storm season.
Flood premiums cause some to take storm-season risk
July 11, 2010|By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel Florida homeowners face mounting flood-insurance challenges this year as they wade deeper into hurricane season. At a time when U.S. emergency-preparedness managers are pushing Floridians to sign up for flood coverage, the National Flood Insurance Program has been in flux.
Allstate companies propose home insurance rate hikes
Regulators will weigh a 33 percent average statewide rate hike request for Castle Key Insurance — a subsidiary of Allstate — this month.
Homeowners Insurance Squeezing Life Out Of S. Fla.
The last few hurricane seasons have been relatively quiet. No major storms have impacted the area, but that’s not translating into lower homeowners insurance rates, which are quietly and steadily on the rise.
Property insurance reform reveals a harsh truth
Florida homeowners are caught between a rock and a hard place. Despite not suffering from a severe storm since 2005, and regardless of reforms intent on stemming rate increases, consumers across the state are still suffering insurance premium shock.
Florida insurers need rate increase, says rating expert
Florida’s property/casualty insurers appear to have adequate reinsurance and capital in place to withstand at least two major storms this season but their overall fate could hinge on whether they are allowed to raise their premiums as much as they need to in coming months, according to an insurance rating expert familiar with many of …
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Insurance rate veto makes matters worse
It is troubling to read how Floridians are having to choose between paying higher insurance premiums or moving out of Florida (“Homeowners hit with higher insurance premiums,” July 9). But, as Florida carries the most hurricane risk of all other states combined, insurance here will never be cheap.
For Insurers, Fight Is Now Over Details
The legislative battle over the health care overhaul ended months ago, but it is hard to tell from the intense effort now under way by insurance companies to retool a critical provision.
Bill Newton & Sean Shaw: Insurance consumers need more competition, not less
Currently, there is a battle on Capitol Hill that threatens to drastically raise insurance rates across the country. The legislation, proposed by Congressman Richard Neal, D-Mass., imposes an unnecessary and costly tariff on the companies that help spread insurance risks globally and who have been especially beneficial for consumers and businesses in areas subject to …
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Consumer advocate: Reject property insurance rate-hike requests
Castle Key Insurance needs less than half the rate increase it is requesting and Castle Key Indemnity doesn’t need one at all, the state’s insurance consumer advocate’s office told regulators Tuesday. Castle Key Insurance, which is writing few new policies in Florida, is requesting an average 33 percent rate hike. Castle Key Indemnity is requesting …
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Insurance rate hike may hurt, but it’s honest
For years, millions of Florida property owners have enjoyed an insurance premium subsidy paid for with little but blind luck and meteorological mystery. Following the historic hurricane seasons of 2004-05, in which eight hurricanes impacted Florida over a 15-month period, Citizens Property Insurance grew into the state’s largest insurer despite the fact it was created …
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Regulators should protect Florida homeowners from huge rate hikes
Florida residents are crossing their fingers no hurricanes target the state this year as we enter the heart of the season.
New tool ranks Miami as most vulnerable to hurricane winds
Florida State University researchers have concluded that Miami is the city in Florida most vulnerable to strong hurricane winds.
Fla. halts sale of unauthorized auto service deals
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered a halt to the sale of unauthorized and unlicensed motor vehicle service agreements by two Ohio-based companies.
Insurance rates expected to climb
Don’t expect masses of insurance companies to race to jack up rates come January when the provision requiring them to seek state approval first expires, the state’s insurance commissioner said Tuesday.
Q&A – Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty
Although it has been more than four years since Florida was directly hit by a hurricane, many Florida homeowners are facing rising property insurance rates and finding few options when they shop around for coverage.
Health reform law requires officials to define what counts as care
Insurance commissioners from across the country are gathering in Seattle this weekend to cast what many believe will be the most important vote of the health reform debate since the Affordable Care Act itself passed in March.
Growing number of sinkhole claims questioned
TAMPA – Insurance claims for sinkhole damage are rising, and the state wants to know whether that’s because Florida is seeing a lot more sinkholes or, as insurers say, because most of those claims aren’t for legitimate sinkholes.
Muscle Against Insurance: Florida gets grant to fight premium hikes
Florida will get $1 million to fight unreasonable hikes in insurance premiums, announced federal officials today.
