One of South Florida’s largest property insurance companies has been rebuffed by state insurance regulators for seeking Assignment of Benefits restrictions that were disapproved two years ago. Clearwater-based Heritage Property & Casualty, which is seeking a 14.9 percent rate increase this year, in April sought to require a mortgage lender’s approval before a policyholder can…
Preparing to leave state government after 28 years, former Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty warned that South Florida faces further property insurance rate increases if a solution isn’t found to water claims abuses. McCarty will leave office after the first week of July after 13 years as insurance commissioner and 12 years prior to that…
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 experience with catastrophes would…
With property insurance companies blaming a rising tide of water loss claims for rate increases this year, Florida’s insurance consumer advocate has scheduled a public forum next month in Boca Raton to look for a solution. Sha’Ron James hopes to find answers that have eluded the state legislature over the past four years. Based on…
Florida’s new insurance commissioner has decided to appeal a circuit court ruling allowing State Farm Insurance Co. to opt out of submitting policy-count totals to a publicly available database. Commissioner David Altmaier, appointed just two weeks ago to succeed Kevin McCarty as the state’s top insurance regulator, made the decision “following a thorough review” of…
After reducing its policy count by more than two-thirds over the past four years, state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. continued to shed its risk load by securing approval this week to drop 1,752 high-priced homes after their policies expire next year. As of Jan. 1, homes with insurable values between $700,000 and $799,999 will no…
Abuse of assignment of benefits (AOB) from water loss claims has become a full-blown Florida insurance crisis that will mean higher insurance rates next year and for the foreseeable future for every Florida policyholder, according to Citizens Property Insurance Corp. CEO Barry Gilway and Chief Risk Officer John Rollins. “We are going to have a…
Ten years ago, David Altmaier was coaching track and teaching algebra to 9th graders in southern Kentucky. Now at age 34, he is becoming the top insurance regulator in the nation’s most complicated market. On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott and the three other members of the Florida Cabinet settled on Altmaier to be Florida’s new…
On their third attempt at reaching a consensus, Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinetagreed Friday to promote a deputy now on staff to the post of Florida Insurance Commissioner. David Altmaier, 34, who has been with the Office of Insurance Regulation since 2008, was named to the $165,000-a-year job following another awkward clash between Scott…
It is the most powerful job in state government most people can’t name. Florida’s insurance commissioner has the unfettered ability to affect the cost of living in the state. From the property insurance policy of every homeowner, to the workers’ compensation plans of every employer, to millions of automobile, life insurance, medical malpractice and health…