Florida’s nine-year streak of avoiding hurricanes is helping the state reach a historic milestone: for the first time ever, the state-created fund designed to help pay out claims after storms has enough cash and assets on hand to pay off everything it could owe. New estimates show the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund should have $17 [...]
“The legislature’s failure to directly address the assignment of benefits crisis will allow runaway claims to spiral further out of control,” said William Stander, executive director of the Florida Property & Casualty Association. “Coupled with the approaching hurricane season, which brings its own uncertainties, the potential for higher rates is palpable.” Read the entire blog [...]
Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet members voted Tuesday to bolster the state's catastrophic insurance fund with $2.2 billion of added coverage in advance of what forecasters predict will be another quiet hurricane season in Florida. Read the entire article here
Bills are gaining momentum in both the House and Senate and to rein in a rapidly growing insurance scam in which sketchy trial lawyers and remediation firms are getting stressed-out homeowners to sign over their policy benefits and rights after a burst water pipe or similar home emergency. Read the entire story here
Florida’s last-resort insurer has slimmed down to its smallest size since its 2002 creation after a record departure of 416,000 customers in 2014 — and if the state keeps dodging hurricanes, it could get even smaller, executives said Wednesday. Read the entire story here
Florida's top financial officer said Tuesday that creating a “stress test” will help instill public confidence in the smaller insurers that have come to dominate Florida's property insurance market. Read the entire story here
As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, “Gov. Rick Scott's office confirms that it sought to recruit a Louisiana insurance official as a possible replacement for Florida insurance regulator Kevin McCarty before Scott publicly suggested last week that McCarty be replaced.” Read the entire story here
If Florida’s insurance industry was looking for any certainty about the results of the looming governor’s race between Governor Rick Scott and former Governor Charlie Crist, they didn’t find it after last week’s gubernatorial debate, which almost did not happen due to Crist’s use of an electric fan. The race between Scott and Crist has [...]
FPCA Executive Director William Stander drafted this opinion piece in a response to a Sept. 9th column in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper regarding the Citizens Insurance take-outs. Read the entire story here
As reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, "Florida property insurance companies are on notice that more significant rate reductions are expected next year, the state's chief financial officer said Wednesday during a visit to Sarasota." Read the entire story here