TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Over the next two days, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation will hold public hearings to see if two private insurance companies will be free to increase their rates more than 50%.
Castle Key, which is owned by Allstate and primarily covers condos, wants an average rate increase of just under 54% while Amica Mutual Insurance Company is filing for a 54.1% increase.
Only specific types of policies would be affected and differs for each company.
Paul Handerhan, the president and executive director of the Federal Association For Insurance Reform, says data shows changes made by the state legislature have made an impact when it comes to claim frequency and litigation rates going down. He says that isn’t outweighing other macroeconomic factors.
“You would think that since we got a handle on the claims situation that rates would go down and that would be true if not for these macroeconomics factors like rising inflation, rising cost of real estate properties, and then these increased claims we’re experiencing in Florida for weather events,” Handerhan said.
Insurance companies have been paying out more because of the numerous powerful storms that have damaged parts of the state.
Handerhan says that’s a big reason why we’re seeing this request for rate hikes.
“These are not just hurricanes, these are severe storms we’re experiencing like tornadoes and hailstorms,” he said. “These are occurring with more frequency and it’s being put into the rate base for consumers, which is unfortunate because nobody wants to have higher rates but some of these things are just out of our control.”
Wednesday’s public hearing will be available for viewing online. Pre-registration is required.
Angie Angers
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