Citizens Board of Governors has approved recommended rates for 2017 that equal an average rate increase of nearly 7 percent statewide. The company said the increase is a necessary response to rising non-weather water losses and assignment of benefit (AOB) abuse that is now affecting all regions of the state. By unanimous vote, board members…
By Charles Elmore – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer One state legislator calls it “ridiculous.” A West Palm Beach lawyer whose firm collected about $5 million in a controversial role as “coach in the press box” for other attorneys at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has stopped doing that job at least a year ahead of…
Palm Beach Post – Charles Elmore Brace for a change of direction at one of Florida’s two biggest property insurers. After years of losing customers, state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. expects to gain them in 2017, its top executive said Tuesday. A big reason: Private competitors such as Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. want…
Ron Hurtibise – Sun Sentinel The arguments were familiar at a daylong forum in Boca Raton attended by 150 players in Florida’s homeowner insurance rate crisis. But unlike their usual methods of venting over the past four years — legislative hearings in Tallahassee, websites, letters to the editor — the opposing sides listened to each…
Charles Elmore – Palm Beach Post The CEO of one of Florida’s 10 biggest property insurers told a forum in Boca Raton Tuesday that inflated water-damage claims are “morally wrong” and hurt all consumers by raising rates, while an attorney accused insurers of crying wolf about the latest “crisis” that serves their own needs. More…
By Jim Turner The News Service of Florida Published: Sunday, June 12, 2016 at 10:49 p.m. TALLAHASSEE — Kevin McCarty, Florida’s longtime insurance commissioner, is leaving the Office of Insurance Regulation during the first week of July. McCarty oversaw the insurance industry through the unprecedented 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons and a global recession. But…
JAX Times Union Opinion Lead Letter: Shady lawyers are exploiting loopholes in property insurance policies By Michael Carlson, president, Personal Insurance Federation of Florida Fri, Jun 10, 2016 @ 3:31 pm Last year, Florida broke a record by going 10 straight years without a major hurricane. But not everything is calm as we enter this…
Florida’s State-Backed Residual Policy Count Drop Drives 14 Percent Decrease Nationally June 6, 2016 NEW YORK, June 7, 2016 — High-risk coastal property owners in the United States are increasingly able to buy coverage from private-sector insurers, thereby reducing the exposure of state-run residual property insurers, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) The I.I.I.’s…
Ron Hurtibise Sun Sentinel The ability of Florida’s young homeowner insurance companies to manage a large catastrophic hurricane is “uncertain” despite recent strong financial performance, a new Fitch Ratings analysis asserts. The report released last week, “Florida Homeowners Insurance Market Update: No Time for Complacency Following Hurricane-Free Decade,” says the short history and lack of…
By Charles Elmore – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer MIAMI — On the first day of hurricane season, Florida’s new insurance commissioner David Altmaier described the state’s insurance market as “more stable and competitive” than it has been in more than a decade, even as officials acknowledged continuing challenges. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater…