The Sarasota Tiger Bay Club hosted a presentation on the ‘insurance crisis” today. I was a panelist along with a State Farm agent representative and a Citizens Property Insurance Corporation spokesperson. I always find these discussions with different perspectives interesting. The questions from the audience are enlightening regarding the public’s perception.
Continue Reading Reflections From a Panel Presentation at the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club
Note: This guest post was prepared by Kevin Connor for the American Policyholder Association.
For years, property insurance companies in Florida paid out excessive executive compensation packages and stock dividends, essentially transferring profits into insiders’ pockets instead of preparing for future years of adverse underwriting experiences as most insurers do.
Now these same companies are pointing to the cost of fraud and litigation as reasons for losses and rate increases which seem to be a strategy to divert attention away from the impact of mismanagement and corporate greed. Some continue to pay out generous cash dividends to shareholders even as they file for substantial rate hikes, stop writing policies in parts of the state, or look to withdraw from the Florida markets altogether.
Continue Reading Major Florida property insurers paid out excessive executive compensation packages, dividends for years
Florida’s legislature has been called back for a special session starting December 12 regarding the most current insurance crisis. Attorneys, contractors, public adjusters, and policyholders have been calling me, asking what is going to happen and what is on the table.
Continue Reading One Week Before Florida’s Special Insurance Session—What is Going To Happen?
You cannot make this stuff up. Anyone who reads this blog knows how frustrated I get with the insurance industry’s constant complaints that “[Fill in the Blank] is responsible for rising premiums.” The [Fill in the Blank] is always something different depending on what year it is—sinkholes, water claims, fraud, trial lawyers, hurricanes, reinsurance, political instability, public adjusters.
I was surprised when I first saw the Sun-Sentinel article, Citizens files request for 72-hour deadline to report loss. The more I read and thought about the article the angrier I became. As I have written in the past, Florida policyholders continue to pay the highest property insurance rates in the country despite the fact that no serious hurricane has hit the state in years.1
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Attempts to Limit its Coverage for Water Damage
Citizens Property Insurance Company should devote more time and resources to education, training, and properly and promptly handling property insurance damage claims instead of hiring teams of lawyers “experts”. Citizens wants to avoid paying for covered damages in the homeowners policies by any means necessary. In related news, for three years, Citizens has been depopulating. Sending and shipping off the policyholders to other “brand new” and “financially new” insurance companies so it won’t be so exposed to so many homes when a hurricane hits. But now Citizens says it doesn’t have enough money in the bank and it is raising rates again.
Continue Reading Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Fails Floridians
It is unclear why the Office of Insurance Regulation has approved a rate hike for Florida homeowners insured with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. But it is clear that the policy coverage that was once offered by Florida’s insurance company was been eroded. Coverages in each policy issued by Citizens has been lessened in almost every renewal. Sinkhole coverage, carports, water damage, tile damage, and other provisions have been re-written to benefit the carrier. Yet, rates are going to increase.
Continue Reading Reduced Coverage and High Premiums for Floridians…Again
Many people who are dealing with the mess left by Hurricane Sandy are facing a harsh new reality. Either spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise your home or spend thousands more per year for flood insurance. New FEMA rate maps have been released that will change the flood insurance for many.
Continue Reading Raise Your Home or They’ll Raise Your Rates
Florida’s CFO Jeff Atwater must have had sticker shock when getting his bill for insurance renewal premiums. Last week, Atwater fired off a letter to Florida’s Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty asking why Florida insurance rates were still going up despite a drop in reinsurance rates.
Continue Reading Reinsurance Costs Drop But Not Florida Insurance Rates
Are the Board of Directors at Citizens Property Insurance Corporation above Florida Law? Should the Attorney General investigate what is going on with Citizens? Where is Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate, and why isn’t she speaking up on issues regarding Citizens’ reduction of coverage and rate hikes? What happened to our Insurance Commissioner? Why hasn’t his office said anything in public about the reduction of coverage when Florida law seems to prevent this?
Continue Reading Is Citizens Board of Directors Violating Florida Law?