Fla. Cabinet Told: 186 Insurers Still Have 57,830 Claims Open from Storms

Kevin McCarty, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner reported Tuesday morning to the Florida Cabinet that 186 insurers have reported they still have 57,830 claims open.

“Last month, we were still facing more than 140,000 open storm claims,” Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO explained. “To spur action on settling these claims I brought a rule before the Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet requiring insurance companies to settle all outstanding claims by April 18th with a reporting deadline of April 28th.

“My focus will remain on getting the 57,830 claims resolved, Gallagher said. “It appears many open claims can be closed after contractors can finish repairs and we know that contractors have been in short supply.”

“The preliminary numbers look positive and it appears things are moving in the right direction. However, I am reserving judgment until the Office of Insurance Regulation has time to develop more concrete data. It appears many of the open claims can be closed once contractors can finish repairs, and we know contractors have been in short supply.”