We are still reviewing the provisions of Senate Bill 7018, one of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. reform proposals being considered by the Florida Legislature. In our last two posts, we discussed how the bill would change the rating structure and how it would limit eligibility for more expensive homes over the next few years.
The Florida Senate Banking and Insurance subcommittee has sent a bill to the full Senate that would revamp Citizens Property Insurance Corp. significantly. Members of the committee say the bill would take Citizens back to its roots as the insurer of last resort for the state’s residents. The company is currently the largest insurer in the state with 1.2 million policies.
Last September, the owner of a Seffner, Florida, home decided to buy sinkhole insurance. He says he had never really considered it before. An inspector came to the house, checked things out and gave him the thumbs up.
Given: The State of Florida will assess every property insurance policyholder if Citizens Property Insurance Corp. cannot pay all of its claims from its reserve. Assessments are the last resort for the state-run insurer of last resort. Citizens will not fold unless (or until) the Legislature says it will fold.
Once again, the Florida Legislature is debating ways to move Florida residents off Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s rolls. The state-backed insurer is the largest property insurance carrier in the state, and lawmakers continue to worry that the company’s reserves will not survive a major catastrophe. If that happens, everyone loses, according to Citizens’ critics.
It seems that hardly a week goes by without another insurance provider being found guilty of wasteful, fraudulent, and exploitative business practices. With the stakes so high and matters such as a person’s house, car, or health on the line, any malicious or negligent activity on the part of an insurance company has the potential to irreparably damage a person’s life.
In an incident that would be very scary to any homeowner in Miami-Dade County, a woman in another state is lucky to be alive after a boulder rolled downhill and crashed into their home. The boulder crushed the wall and rolled into the couple’s bedroom, badly injuring the woman. Now the woman, her husband and the home’s owner are hoping the homeowners insurance company will help with the repair costs.
Living in Florida has its benefits, sun, warm weather and great beaches, but it also has a major downfall – hurricanes. Last week the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee announced that it is making changes to homeowners insurance in an effort to protect Floridians.
We are finishing up our discussion of holiday parties — before, we hope, the holiday parties are finished — and the potential liability they carry for the homeowner and renter hosts. The basic rules of thumb are to know your state’s “social host” laws and to be familiar with the liability coverage terms of your homeowners or renters insurance policy.
We are continuing our discussion of insurance issues not really unique to the holidays but certainly more easily overlooked at this time of the year. Some of us love the bustle of preparing for parties, making last-minute or well-planned forays to the stores and rifling through catalogs looking for deals on shipping and gift wrapping. Some of us would rather hunker down with our homeowners insurance policy just to be absolutely clear about our potential liability if carolers stop by and when we have our annual neighborhood get-together.
