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.
News Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibse Date Published: January 28. 2023 State Farm Florida is the third-largest property insurance company in Florida, by policy count. It’s a fact that the Florida offshoot of the national insurer hasn’t wanted you to know over the past eight years. State-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the so-called “insurer of last…
News Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Roy Hurtibise Date Published: January 15th, 2023 Why not just expand state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to cover all homeowners in Florida? It’s a timely question for the fast-growing state-owned insurer of last resort after a run of costly hurricanes and heavy litigation have resulted in five straight years of collective insurance industry…
News Source: E&E News Date Published: December 15th Author: Thomas Frank Hundreds of thousands of Florida property owners face requirements to buy flood insurance under a precedent-setting bill approved Wednesday by the state Legislature. It’s the first mandate of its kind in the country. The requirement applies to properties across the state, regardless of whether they…
News Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date Published: December 13th A Florida Senate Committee spent about two hours Monday reviewing a sweeping property insurance reform bill before approving it along party lines – with no changes. All nine Republicans on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted in favor of Senate Bill 2A, authored by…
News Source: Reinsurance News Date Published: November 29th Author: Kane Wells The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has reported that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has paid $793 million in claims following Hurricane Ian, as Federal support nears $3 billion. FEMA suggests that more than $2.97 billion in federal grants, disaster loans and flood insurance payments…
News Source: Tampa Bay Times Author: Jim Saunders Date Published: November 15th TALLAHASSEE — Despite pounding parts of the East Coast, Hurricane Nicole will not hit Florida’s insurance market as hard as Hurricane Ian. CoreLogic, a property information and analytics firm, released an early estimate Friday that said Nicole’s privately insured losses will be less than $750 million.…
News Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date Published: November 8, 2022 One of the largest providers of reinsurance for Florida carriers is predicting major increases in rates next year, a move that could add fuel to the fire for a reform package at the upcoming special session of the Florida Legislature. In an earnings call last week,…
News Source: Claims Journal Author: WIlliam Rabb Date Published: October 11 While some analysts are predicting that the property insurance industry will be able to manage Hurricane Ian and its estimated $50 billion in insured losses, a few are now warning that the storm could significantly erode the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund’s surplus, which could spell trouble for…
News Source: Insurance NewsNet Date Published: October 7th Responding to public officials who have lashed out at the state’s largest homeowners insurance ratings agency over its threats to downgrade more than a dozen property insurers, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers last month supported spending up to $1.5 million to research their options. Yet some in the insurance industry doubt…
News Source: CBS News Author: Irina Ivanova Date Published: October 4th Many Florida homeowners starting the arduous recovery from Hurricane Ian will do so without the benefit of flood insurance, forcing them to either rebuild with scant resources or make hard choices about relocating. Ian was among the most destructive storms to hit the U.S. Early estimates of residential and…
News Source: Insurance Newsnet Date published: August 31st Without a hit from a major hurricane, annual underwriting losses from property insurers in Florida eclipsed $1 billion in 2020 and in 2021. Five companies have failed as of late summer. Those still standing are shedding policies, avoiding new ones and raising rates. The average Florida home insurance premium will hit $4,231 this year, up…
News Source: Florida Politics Author: Gray Rohrer Date Published: August 29 A 0.7% assessment on all non-auto insurance policies will begin Jan. 1, 2023 and last throughout the year. All insurance policies in the state, except for auto insurance, will have a 0.7% assessment tacked onto them starting in 2023 as a result of a series of liquidations…
News Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: August 15th So here we go, Florida. Peak hurricane season is bearing down on us like that flying saucer in the movie Nope.Insurance insiders say we’re covered — as long as we don’t get more than two major storms. Typically, mid-August through mid-October is when…
News Source: Tampa Bay Times Authors: Lawrence Mower, Alex Harris Date Published: August 12 TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s crumbling homeowners insurance market is exposing one of the state’s long-running flaws: its reliance on a single company to certify the majority of the state’s insurers. For the last few weeks, state regulators and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration have been scrambling…
News Source: S&P Global Date Published: August 9th Florida property and casualty insurers will continue to face a myriad of challenges despite the sudden creation of a temporary reinsurance program to aid a host of troubled carriers in the Sunshine State. A plan, currently on hold, by rating agency Demotech to downgrade approximately 17 Florida-focused P&C insurers generated intense…
Date Published: August 2nd The Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—together with planners, engineers, developers, and leaders from business associations, local government institutions, the insurance industry, fiscal conservative organizations, the nonprofit sector, and others—sent a letter on Aug. 2 to leadership of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the…
News Source: Insurance News Net [South Florida Sun-Sentinel] Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: July 27th Florida homeowners won’t lose their insurance coverage or face force-placed policies if their insurers lose their financial stability ratings — at least through hurricane season. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation today announced that the state, through the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association and state-run Citizens Property Insurance…
News Source: Insurance News Net (Florida Sun-Sentinel) Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: July 25th A slew of ratings downgrades for Florida-based insurers won’t be happening Tuesday after all. The CEO of Ohio-based Demotech, who last week sent letters to 27 insurers telling them that their financial strength ratings would be downgraded on July 26, on Monday afternoon sent a…
News Source: NBC South Florida Author: Associated Press Date Published: July 23rd A ratings agency has plans to downgrade more than two dozen Florida-based property insurance companies in a move that could cost more money for homeowners with loans. The ratings firm Demotech plans to downgrade the 27 insurers from an “A” rating to ratings of either “S”…
News Source: Reinsurance News Author: Kassandra Kimenez-Sanchez Date Published: July 20th, 2022 AI-driven flood insurtech Neptune Flood has announced a new partnership with SIAA (Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance), an US alliance of independent insurance agencies. With this partnership, SIAA members will have access to Neptune solutions for flood risk through SIAA MarketFinder, SIAA’s online member-only portal…
News Source: News 6 WKMG Author: Louis Bolden Date: July 7th A state program created after a special legislative session on property insurance is supposed to pass on savings to consumers. A state statute required insurers to file their potential savings with the Office of Insurance regulation by June 30. Many companies have filed and there are reductions,…
News Source: Insurance Journal Date Published: July 1st Florida property insurers have another cost increase to manage after the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund was approved for a premium increase. The fund’s governing body, the State Board of Administration, this month gave final approval to the formula used to determine the increase, which includes a 5.6%…
News Source: Florida Phoenix Author: Laura Cassels Date Published: June 27th, 2022 More increases in property-insurance premiums are in the pipeline for Florida homeowners, whose property-insurance costs already are far above the national average. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is evaluating requests from three private property insurance companies to raise their rates: Florida Farm Bureau wants…
News Source: Climate Wire Author: Thomas Frank Date Published: June 22, 2022 Three years ago, FedNat Insurance Co. decided it was smart business strategy to expand deeper into the South to diversify its coverage area. But in 2020 and 2021, major storms hit Louisiana and Texas, and the Florida-based property insurer lost tens of millions of dollars.…
Has your house or apartment flooded before? In Florida, good luck finding outAs an unnamed storm drenched Miami-Dade earlier this month, some people were shocked to find themselves suddenly sloshing through floodwaters creeping into homes or apartments. News Source: Miami Herald Author: Alex Harris Date Published: June 19, 2022 As an unnamed storm drenched Miami-Dade earlier…
News Source: Miami Herald Author: Alex Harris & Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez Date Published: June 20 Nora Trujillo ticked off the losses from the flood on her fingers: a computer, a microwave, a television, a couch, most of the family’s clothes and a fan that fell into the foot and a half of floodwater that surged…
News Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date Published: June 14th, 2022 When the Florida Legislature approved Senate Bill 76 last year, with its restrictions on homeowner solicitation by roofing contractors, insurers saw it as a major blow against runaway fraudulent and exaggerated roof claims. Then a contractor, Gale Force Roofing and Restoration, and others…
News Source: Florida Phoenix Author: Laura Cassels Date Published: June 14th, 2022 Like some private insurers, Florida’s state-run property insurance corporation has been unable to acquire all the reinsurance coverage it needs to cover risks posed by hurricanes and other threats in the coming year. Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort, has acquired about…
News Source: WKMG News 6 Author: Louis Bolden Date Published: June 13th, 2022 ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s been just over two weeks since the governor signed an insurance bill into law, but consumers tell News 6 that not every insurance agent is up to speed on what the law contains. Sheila Guzman said every year her anxiety starts when…
News Source: WBTV Author: Matt Sczesny Date Published: June 9th, 2022 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Homeowners in Florida are signing up for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation at a frantic pace as hurricane season begins and the state’s insurance crisis seems to deepen. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is currently writing policies at a frantic…
News Source: 10 Tampa Bay Author: Libby Hendren Date Published: June 8th, 2022 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — If you’ve been shopping for a place to live, odds are you’re finding fewer options available. A new report out from NerdWallet shows in the first quarter of this year there were 36 percent fewer listings available to buy in the…
News Source: Florida Phoenix Author: Laura Cassels Date Published: June 7, 2022 With the first named storm of the 2022 hurricane season — Alex — already leaving its mark on South Florida, the turmoil in the state’s property-insurance market continues to worsen. Tens of thousands of Florida homeowners are scrambling to find coverage, as the insurance industry grapples…
Source: WUSF Public Media Author: Sarah Mueller Date Published: May 29, 2022 Some lawmakers and industry analysts worry the new laws don’t deliver relief fast enough and don’t go far enough for property owners to see a difference. When Lynn Haven resident Tori Lambeth bought her first home in 2019, it felt right. The payment—mortgage, taxes, and insurance—was…
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: May 28, 2022 While most Floridians kick off summer by enjoying a long Memorial Day weekend, executives of financially shaky insurance companies will be scrambling to make sure their customers remain protected into the upcoming hurricane season. Depending on how many fall short, tens of thousands of policyholders could…
Source: Insurance Journal Author: William Rabb Date: May 22, 2022 Florida’s insurance community appears to be split, at least to some degree, on the impact that two draft bills will have on the property insurance crisis, with some praising the changes and others warning that they won’t go far enough to rescue struggling carriers just days before reinsurance…
Source: Florida Politics Author: Jacob Ogles Date Published: May 23, 2022 Advocates say lawmakers need to look beyond Summer and storm season. As lawmakers return to Tallahassee for a Special Session, consumer advocates hope for solutions that don’t drive people from homes. The consumer advocacy group Floridians For Honest Lending and insurance reform advocates Federal Association…
Source: Florida Phoenix Author: Laura Cassels Date Published: May 22, 2022 Creating a $2 billion reinsurance fund to help insurance companies pay catastrophic claims is a good idea but it is unclear whether it can significantly ease Florida’s property-insurance crisis. Establishment of that fund to, in essence, provide hard-to-come-by stability for Florida insurance companies, is the hallmark…
News Source: Florida Pheonix Author: Laura Cassels Date Published: May 19, 2022 Florida lawmakers poised to act against soaring property-insurance rates may address allegations of insurance fraud and may manage to lure jittery reinsurance companies back into Florida’s crippled marketplace. But one thing they can’t do is change the weather. “Insurers believe that due to climate change, this…
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel Author: Ron Hurtibise Date Published: May 18, 2022 Changes to terms of home insurance policies approved by Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier violate policyholders’ rights by depriving them of the ability to sue over disputes or be reimbursed for work by repair contractors, a new lawsuit charges. The suit was filed Tuesday by…
Source: Office of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis Date Published: May 17, 2022 Today, leaders from throughout Florida applauded Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis on his recently announced anti-fraud legislative proposals, which are aimed at cracking down on fraud, fighting premium increases, and helping lawmakers as they craft legislation for the upcoming special session. This…
News Source: WUSF Public Media Author: Mattew Peddie, Dinorah Prevost Date Published: May 17, 2022 Homeowners are paying more for less coverage as insurance companies ditch customers. Others have gone out of business. This week on Florida Matters, the state’s property insurance market is in big trouble. Homeowners are paying more for less coverage as insurance companies shed…
News Source: Tampa Bay Times Author: Lawrence Mower Date Published: May 17, 2022 TALLAHASSEE — As state lawmakers meet next week to try to fix the spiraling property insurance market, they could draw on the lessons of the graveyard of insurers that have failed in recent years. If only they knew what those lessons were. Florida’s Department of…
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…