South Florida cannot catch a break, what with all the problems it has to tackle: insurance rate increases have been set for next year; a select number of insurers have declared their intent to stop writing for certain areas; and the still-rampant abuse of assignment of benefits.
In regard to the pending rate increases set for next year, a couple of insurers’ requests were already approved, reported Sun Sentinel. Federated National Insurance Co.’s statewide average increase of 5.5% was approved by the state. Tower Hill’s increase of13.1% was also given the greenlight.
Other insurers still await approval for their rate requests. Universal Property & Casualty is sitting on its average 2.6% increase—the insurer is also looking to boost the rate of its multi-peril residential policies by 5%. Olympus Insurance asked for a rate increase average of 2.7%.
Two insurers want to raise rates slightly higher than average for homeowners in South Florida. The state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is looking to hike its own rates by an average of 3.2%, with slightly higher increases in counties where assignment of benefits abuse continues unabated. Heritage Property & Casualty filed for an average statewide increase of 14.9% for policies it took out of Citizens—for South Florida areas Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami-Dade County, the insurer plans 21.4%, 25%, and 22.2% increases, respectively.
Notably, some carriers have declined to cover for certain ZIP codes or have stopped writing new policies in Miami-Dade and Broward County, likely due to the high risk such properties in both areas carry.
"This shrinks the marketplace and therefore the consumer is having a hard time finding competitive rates," said Dulce Suarez-Resnick, an insurance agent based in Miami. She also noted that homeowners with older homes and high wind coverage rates will be the ones most affected by the loss of insurance options.
Assignment of benefits abuse continues to hound Florida, and could even be the reason why the state is seeing noticeably high insurance rate hikes. Broward County insurance agent Dean Fulton said that he has met with several insurance company presidents who told him to expect rate increases due to padded claims by repair contractors and public adjusters.
"All the CEOs . . . told me rate increases are coming," Fulton remarked. "It's going to go higher, and people are going to scream bloody murder."
