FAIR supports balanced policy reforms to ensure all consumers have access to affordable insurance with quality coverage. The property insurance market in Florida is in a dire state, with several years of losses. This has made it increasingly difficult for consumers in the state to find affordable and quality insurance. To combat this crisis, FAIR and its members advocate for a variety of public policy initiatives that promote a robust, competitive, and stable market.
If you are an individual policyholder in Florida, join our campaign to contact your representatives and urge reform.
New Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Date Published: May 14, 2022 Author: Ron Hurtibise Florida’s property insurance crisis is about to hit home for tens of thousands of policyholders. More than 68,000 policies of troubled Sunrise-based FedNat Insurance Company and its sister companies Maison and Monarch National will be canceled by the end of June, according to terms…
News Source: News 6 – WKMG / Click Orlando Date Published: May 12, 2022 Author: Louis Bolden News 6 broke the news several weeks ago that some insurers are dropping customers if their shingle roof is older than ten years. Now, a Marion County woman says her hot water heater kept her from being insured. Pamela Kelley says…
Publisher: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: May 4, 2022 A national insurance industry research analysis firm is calling for the global reinsurance industry to shock Florida lawmakers into enacting meaningful property insurance reform. But the strategy the firm proposes would not only shock lawmakers, it would interrupt coverage for untold numbers of Florida homeowners and…
Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date Published: April 26, 2022 Premiums paid to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund are expected to increase by more than 12% later this year, giving new urgency to calls to cut the fund’s retention level in half, a move that some estimates show could save Florida insurers and policyholders as much as…
Author: Tasha Carter, Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate Date: April 11, 2022 Insurance rates are skyrocketing and majority of homeowners are feeling the impact. Higher insurance rates can be life altering, requiring homeowners to make decisions between vital medications, food, gas and other essentials. Fraud, specifically schemes perpetuated by contractors and other third parties, is…
Source: CBS 4 Miami Author: Joan Murray Date Published: April 5, 2022 FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – George Colbert has lived 16 years in his Wilton Manors home. As flooding has increased, he’s seen his flood insurance rates go up. And that’s not all. “I canceled my windstorm policy when it got too high,” he said. “And when I…
Source: Insurance News Net Date Published: April 2, 2022 Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run “insurer of last resort,” is proposing an across-the-board rate hike of nearly 11%, the highest increase allowed by law. The request comes as Florida’s private property insurance market sinks deeper into turmoil, insurance industry analysts said, driven in part by roof-replacement fraud and…
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: March 29, 2022 Florida’s home insurance availability crisis continues to claim new victims, and worries are mounting that more companies could be declared insolvent as this year’s hurricane season draws near. The industry’s financial storm clouds have prompted fears of collapsing companies and the massive growth of…
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: March 6, 2022 For home insurance customers, the hits just keep coming. On top of a series of steep rate increases over the past few years, now come surcharges to clean up messes left behind by failed insurance companies. Orlando-based St. Johns Insurance Co. — one of the…
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: Monday February 7, 2022 Will your home insurance policy pay to fully replace your roof if it’s damaged in a hailstorm, a tornado, a fire, or by a falling tree branch during a summer thunderstorm? Or does your policy cover only your roof’s depreciated value, leaving you…
Source: Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: January 29, 2022 Florida home insurance customers could get a substantial break from rising rates — saving about $150 a year — if they no longer had to pay into the state’s hurricane insurance reserve fund and if insurance companies could access those reserves more easily — with fewer…
Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date: January 28, 2022 Seeing no action on bills that would address Florida’s spiraling property insurance problems head-on, one state senator took a different route Thursday and proposed reducing insurers’ payments to the state’s hurricane catastrophe fund, a move he said could save policyholders as much as $1 billion…
Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date: January 26, 2022 If homeowners’ insurance carriers weren’t facing enough issues this year, here’s one more to think about: A Miami company is now offering cryptocurrency-based mortgages. Some insurance representatives are cautiously optimistic about the idea, but a few are wondering what a Bitcoin mortgage could mean for policies…
News Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: December 9, 2021
News Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: October 24, 2021 Homeowners hoping for an end to steep property insurance rate increases next year might as well start looking for other expenses to trim. It’s not happening. Costs won’t be stabilizing or going down anytime soon, multiple officials told state lawmakers during committee hearings in Tallahassee…
Legislative AnalysisClick here to read FAIR’s analysis of the most relevant bills that passed during the 2021 Florida legislative session, including SB 76, SB 1598, and HB 1209.
News Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: May 17, 2021 As insurers continue to bemoan heavy claims losses and litigation costs in South and Central Florida, state insurance regulators are allowing three companies to cancel or not renew thousands of policies, forcing those jilted customers to find new coverage weeks before hurricane…
News Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date: April 16, 2021 The next few days will determine whether Florida consumers will lose valuable property insurance coverage to insurers’ efforts to fight fraudsters who are driving up costs for everyone. Critics are warning about several insurance industry-backed reform proposals that have already been…
News Provided By: The Washington Post Author: Bobby Caina Calvan Date: April 8, 2021 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Legislation hailed as some of the most robust yet to defend U.S. coasts against sea level rise is headed to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a proposal that would provide millions of dollars annually to communities threatened with…
News Provided By: South Florida Sun Sentinel Article By: Ron Hurtibise Date: March 22, 2021 Homeowners worried they’ll have to foot most of the cost to replace their roofs if they get damaged should be able to relax for at least another year — unless they need to find a new insurer. The Florida House…
News Provided by: Florida Record Article by: Michael Carroll February 26, 2021 Restrictions on assignment-of-benefits (AOB) property insurance claims signed into law in 2019 have failed to control lawsuits blamed for pushing up insurance premium costs in Florida, according to a nonprofit insurance consumers group. The AOB reforms contained in House Bill 7065 attempted to…
The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund’s Ratemaking Formula Report is an “Actuarial Communication” as governed by actuary profession’s U.S. Standards of Practice, specifically #41. Therefore, it must adhere to the following standard (from section 3.2 of #41) unless the actuary discloses a deviation from standards and explains why: “In the actuarial report, the actuary should state the actuarial…
FAIR is deeply concerned about the recently reported operating results of Florida-based insurance companies. We have also heard from a number of affected policyholders of insurance companies that have failed, i.e., Florida Specialty, Windhaven. Fourth quarter 2019 financial data will result in additional operating losses beyond the dollar amounts already reported. Moreover, Floridians will face…