The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is continuing to crack down on force-placed insurers. Earlier this month, the OIR entered a consent order against American Security Insurance Co. that will result in lower premiums for policyholders; the order should also result in less predatory practices by the insurer, the largest force-placed homeowners insurance company in the state.
A recent article about insurance claims reminded us of the movie “Roxanne.” Steve Martin plays the fire chief whose crew is in dire need of some training. One mishap after another leads to the scene in which an exasperated Martin exclaims, “You can’t have people with their houses burning down saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t call the fire department!'”
The hurricane season has been much quieter than anticipated, and it’s a lucky turn of events for a number of reasons. First and foremost, of course, Florida and other Atlantic and Gulf Coast states have avoided the property damage and fatalities the come with a major storm.
Any discussion of the National Flood Insurance Program rate hikes that went into effect on Oct. 1 has certainly been eclipsed by the news of the federal government shutdown. Homeowners along Florida’s coast, though, may be tuning out news about the shutdown when they see their new flood insurance premiums.
The reforms included in the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 were directed at making the National Flood Insurance Program more financially secure. In Florida, the arguments about fiscal responsibility and actuarially sound rate structures were merely an extension of the ongoing debate over the solvency of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. — until homeowners here started to open their mail.
Florida consumers and businesses are rallying to convince lawmakers to tackle one of the many proposals dropped from the insurance reform bill during the last legislative session. The Stronger Safer Florida Coalition is asking that the state no longer subsidize insurance for property owners who live outside of Florida.
Private insurance companies will take as many as 400,000 policyholders off the books of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by the end of 2013, if all goes as the insurance company hopes. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the plan recently as part of the state’s ongoing effort to “depopulate” Citizens by moving homeowners insurance policies from the state-backed carrier to the private market.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. recently announced its proposed rate increases for 2014. Homeowners covered by Florida’s state-backed insurer can expect an average 6.6 percent increase, but homeowners purchasing sinkhole coverage will not fare as well: The company is asking for a steep 24.8 percent hike (statewide average) over current rates.
Insurance rating is a black box in many ways. There are so many layers of data that go into it, in fact, that rating may be more like a matryoshka doll made up of nesting analytical processes.
When individuals in Miami purchase a home, whether it is their first or one in a long string of ownership, a requirement of most closings is homeowners’ insurance. A homeowner will then consistently pay the monthly or yearly premium required under the policy.
