Florida, land of the nation’s costliest home insurance, has reached a new era in early 2016. State-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is no longer the company with the most policies. Read more from the Palm Beach Post here
More than a dozen Florida real estate, construction and insurance groups announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to push for homeowners’ insurance reform in the 2016 Legislative Session. The Consumer Protection Coalition seeks to curb a practice known as “assignment of benefits,” where owners sign away their insurance policy to a third party who [...]
Kevin McCarty, who helped guide Florida's fragile insurance market in the wake of eight hurricanes a decade ago, announced Tuesday that he is resigning as the state's insurance commissioner, the Associated Press reported. Read more here
Below is an AOB opinion piece penned by Steve Pociask of the American Consumer Institute. It was published online by Forbes. By some accounts, Florida has the highest homeowner's insurance rates in the country and rates keep rising, despite not having a major hurricane in the last decade. The culprit - a concentration of non-weather [...]
It was another busy year for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). From conducting the annual property/casualty data call and subsequent stress test of Florida property insurers, to working on the depopulation efforts of Citizens, to calling out the National Flood Insurance Program on Florida’s “unfair” flood insurance rates, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty [...]
Even if Florida gets blasted by four hurricanes in one season as it did a decade ago, 67 Florida-based insurance companies tested by the state have enough of a financial cushion to handle the damage, according to a new report touted by the state's top financial regulator Monday. Read more here
Florida's third redistricting trial came to a close Monday, leaving the fate of the state's 27 congressional districts in the hands of a Leon County Circuit Court judge who has less than three weeks to make a recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court. Read more here
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Florida Association for Insurance Reform's 3rd annual awards dinner Thursday night. Read more here
For three years, state lawmakers have received mounting evidence about a scam in which frazzled homeowners are unknowingly signing away their insurance benefits to shady vendors during home repair emergencies. Read more here
“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, said in April. “Coupled with the approaching hurricane season, which brings its own uncertainties, the potential for higher rates is palpable.” Read [...]