As with other aspects of the Florida residential property insurance market, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) continues to benefit from the recent run of hurricane-free years. Not only does the FHCF anticipate that it can fully meet is statutory limit of $17 billion in single-season capacity, most of the the FHCF’s current single-season capacity […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation recently announced that it had 727,122 policies as of November 30, 2014. This is about half of Citizens’ policy count a few years ago when it reached a high of about 1.4 million policies. The Citizens portfolio consists predominantly of personal residential policies, although it continues to have significant commercial exposure […]
The Tallahassee Democrat’s editorial this morning entitled “Controlling Citizens” makes some important points about the current state of the supposed residual market. The theme of the editorial is that policymakers should make Citizens Property Insurance Corporation an insurer of “last resort” again. The editorial points out that 23 percent of Florida properties are insured by […]
The New Year’s celebrations are over and it’s back to work in Tallahassee. Before the annual legislative session begins in March, the Florida Legislature will hold a series of committee weeks to continue considering proposals for 2013. The insurance-related issues under consideration will range from health insurance to property insurance to workers’ compensation. The following […]
Representative Bryan Nelson and Senator Garrett Richter have released a white paper entitled, “How Critical is Property Insurance in Florida?” drawing attention to Florida’s reliance on assessment (taxing) mechanisms to prop up the state’s insurance market. Nelson and Richter point out that Florida is making promises through three government-run entities that the state probably will […]
The rate levels of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation have received considerable attention in recent weeks. Citizens committees have considered the possibility that under current law it should be charging actuarially sound rates for new customers and its capped rates should apply only to existing customers. Although the statutory basis for this approach has been part […]
We’ve heard the phrase before in many contexts– first do no harm. Let’s hope this line of thinking applies to the 2012 legislative session, particularly as it relates to Florida’s residential property insurance market. Governor Rick Scott issued a challenge several months ago for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to dramatically reduce its exposures. Unfortunately, its […]
The holiday season always seems to pass too quickly. After an extended period of unwinding and spending time with families and friends, the new year always brings an abrupt end to this relaxed pace as we return to work, children return to school and we pick up where we left off. This will especially be […]
The Board of Governors of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation voted 5-3 to oppose legislation designed to reduce the size of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. The FHCF is Citizens’ primary source of reinsurance. The FHCF has been promoting a plan to reduce its size through a combination of decreasing its maximum liability, increasing the co-participation requirement, and increasing […]