Edit, sorry I'm late.
Big Florida news breaking this week!
Farmers becomes latest company pulling out of Florida amid property insurance crisis
Farmers notified Florida officials Monday
Florida lawmakers talk special session on property insurance crisis at insurance summit in Orlando
ORLANDO, Fla. – Farmers Insurance is leaving the Florida insurance market, becoming the latest company to do so, and impacting thousands of policyholders.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
confirmed to Local 10′s Orlando news partner, WKMG News 6, that Farmers notified the agency Monday of its intentions. The notice has been marked “trade secret” which is limiting the ability of insurance regulators to give more details.
Farmers says that only Farmers-branded insurance products are being ended in Florida, which account for roughly 100,000 auto, home and umbrella policies.
Other insurance companies run by Farmers will stay in the Florida market, including Bristol West, Foremost Signature, Farmers GroupSelect, Foremost Choice and Foremost-branded policies, which account for about 70% of Farmers Insurance customers in the state.
Last month,
News 6 reported that Farmers Insurance stopped writing new property insurance policies in February. In a statement, Farmers said it paused writing property insurance policies to “more effectively manage our risk exposure.”
An agent for Farmers told News 6 that the company was looking at whether to leave the market within the next 30 days.
“There’s supposed to be news about what the state of Florida is going to bring and whether Farmers is going to stay or go and what they’re gonna do with agents,” the agent said.
Farmers issued the following statement to News 6 Tuesday:
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose agency oversees the Office of Insurance Regulation, tweeted Monday that he was hearing rumors that Farmers might pull out of Florida and said his office would “explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable.”
A Farmers spokesman would not comment on Patronis’ tweet.
What does this mean for insurance policyholders?
Florida law requires an insurance company to give a 90-day notice in writing to the state if it plans to discontinue services. Farmers Insurance is not allowed to send out nonrenewal notices until that 90-day period has lapsed.
The company is also supposed to give a policyholder a 120-day notice before the date their insurance ends, so they have time to find new insurance coverage.
In the meantime, customers can still contact their agent or call the national claim number if they need help at 1-800-435-7764.
That might be cold comfort for policyholders, however, as the market for insurance policies continues to reel from high prices and fewer companies writing policies.
In a series of special sessions, Florida lawmakers tried to address the issue and stabilize the market by reining in legal costs for insurers. That includes providing $3 billion in reinsurance aid to help the market and a law that ends homeowners’ ability to recover attorney fees when they prevail against insurance companies.
“Most of the primary cost drivers in the Florida property insurance market, including catastrophic claims, adverse loss reserve development, and higher reinsurance costs, are notably exacerbated by excessive and costly litigation. These historic and unprecedented legislative reforms in recent years addressed these cost drivers to bolster Florida’s property insurance market and create stability and competition by reducing costly litigation,” the Office of Insurance Regulation said in a statement.
Florida lawmakers had said the benefits of the new laws would not be seen right away, but eventually insurance rates would come down.
Not helping is
a new report showing property catastrophe reinsurance rates rose 30% to 40% July 1. Reinsurers insure insurance companies, and higher reinsurance rates can mean higher premiums for insurance customers.
The instability in the market has left many homeowners with no choice but to go to Citizens Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort. Citizens now insures more than 1.3 million Floridians.
Citizens is also hoping to drop property insurance policies by increasing insurance rates by 13.1%, according to a hearing held last month.
Farmers Insurance is leaving the Florida insurance market, becoming the latest company to do so, and impacting thousands of policyholders.
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so is that why red state/Republican voters don't know there on something that was make by democrats
