Florida Extends ‘Fast Track’ Policy Form Approval

Florida insurance regulators are extending a process that fast tracks approval of insurance company forms. The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) says the extension until June 2013 is necessary due to limited resources and a backlog of requests.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty first approved the process last June after the OIR said it had been inundated with policy form changes from insurers that reflected the various law changes of the past two years. McCarty said at the time that the large number of requests overtaxed and already overburden staff that had been reduced due to budget cuts.

Under the streamline process, insurers can use a new form without waiting after filing it with the OIR along with a certificate that states the form conforms with state law.

In extending the alternative policy form approval process, regulators did remove one prior requirement that required insurer executives to certify that the forms reflected any current case law. McCarty had said that the legal obligation concerned executives who feared their policy forms could later be disapproved do to unforeseeable court decisions.