News & Resources

We’re not quite done with our discussion of the reinsurance market in Florida. A recent news report brought to light the facts and the issues associated with reinsurance arrangements Florida insurance companies have taken on since the 2005 hurricane season. Homeowner insurance premiums have increased, but the money insurance companies rake in isn’t staying in the state. It’s going to off-shore investors, who run shell companies here while they track hurricanes from afar.

In our last post, we talked about Florida’s homeowner insurance market and a newspaper investigation into the industry’s growing reliance on off-shore reinsurance companies. The issue is a sensitive one for Floridians, given the multiple rate hikes over the past few years. The news report links the shift from “traditional” insurance companies to Hurricane Katrina.

Florida residents know all too well that homeowners insurance premiums have gone up over the past few years. According to quarterly premium reports, the average Florida homeowner’s rate has jumped 72 percent since 2003. Regulators have approved rates approaching $8,000 on a $100,000 Palm Beach home. In the Florida Keys, the same home would cost $13,000 a year to insure.

Florida’s state insurance company is the target of a class action suit filed last week. The suit, filed on behalf of 1.2 million Citizens Property Insurance Company policyholders, alleges that the insurer awarded 33 no-bid contracts improperly over the past six years. Citizens was founded to provide insurance to property owners, both private and commercial, who could not find insurance elsewhere.

In our last post, we talked about the law changes affecting insurance discounts for hurricane-proofed homes throughout Florida. Initially, following the devastating 2005 hurricane season, the Legislature required double discounts for hurricane mitigation efforts in order to minimize both the damage to homes and the claims cost to insurance companies. The rationale for many of this year’s laws was to protect customers and their insurers from financial harm as well as to protect the health and safety of customers. Critics and homeowners are wondering if in practice the emphasis was more on insurers than on customers.

In the wake of Hurricane Wilma, Florida lawmakers required homeowners insurance companies to double the discounts allowed for hurricane-safe structures for the next plan year. The primary goal was to encourage homeowners to make improvements to their property in order to minimize damage from future storms. Insurers figured the discounts granted would cost less than paying billions of dollars in hurricane claims.

Florida residents affected by Hurricane Wilma have until October 24 to file claims related to the storm. Hurricane Wilma was the fourth Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 season. What Katrina started that year, Wilma finished off. In Florida, more than 1 million insurance claims resulted in insurance payouts of over $9 billion. Total damage from Wilma was estimated at $29.1 billion.

In our last post, we talked about the San Bruno gas explosion and the costs of repairs. Florida homeowners are no strangers to disasters, but we believe it’s worthwhile to talk about the insurance implications of the San Bruno accident.

In the wake of the San Bruno, California pipeline explosion last week, the utility set aside about $100 million to help the victims. Whether they distribute that money depends largely on the results of the investigation into what caused the blast. If the company is not at fault, the people who were injured, the people who lost their homes, and the people who lost their loved ones will likely not see any of that money. Instead, they will rely on their insurance carriers. And industry insiders from Florida to Washington State will be following the story.

Florida homeowners are concerned that proposed sinkhole legislation will cause delays or denials of insurance claims. Insurers are pressing for the law change in response to a sharp increase in the number of sinkhole claims over the past few years.