Fla. Lawmakers Schedule More Hearings on Property Insurance Rates

After two more days of grueling questions to Florida state regulators and insurance company executives, a special Senate panel wrapped up its business Tuesday as confused as when it began.

In fact, the Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability decided they wanted more sworn testimony from industry executives in mid-February to gather additional information on why many companies haven’t reduced premium costs to property insurance customers.

“At some point in time we’re going to have to recognize that we can’t have it all,” said Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, who co-chaired the panel.

Executives from Allstate Corp., Nationwide Insurance Co. of Florida, Florida Farm Bureau Insurance, The Hartford Group and American Strategic Insurance testified under oath during roughly 16 hours of hearings over the two day period that began on Feb. 4.

The panel heard from several executives that they were concerned about being able to recoup timely reinsurance payments from the state’s expanded catastrophic fund in the aftermath of a major hurricane that could put companies on the brink of insolvency.

Florida regulators sought to suspend Allstate from writing any new policies last month, but the company is allowed to sell policies under a court injunction until the case is settled. Regulators claimed Allstate failed to turn over all documents requested in a subpoena.

Allstate has dropped nearly a half million policies across the state in recent years in an effort to reduce its risk. The company currently underwrites about 200,000 homeowners policies in the state.