The Miami Herald reported recently that a group of Florida seventh-graders were staging a hurricane simulation. They would learn how to prepare for and recover from a storm. For those of us who have been in Florida for a while, the idea of having to simulate a hurricane sounds a little odd, until you realize that these kids have not experienced a major storm in their young lives — at least, not one they remember.
After our multi-post discussion of the National Flood Insurance Program and rising premiums for Florida homeowners, we came across a story about a couple of flood insurance coverage issues that we thought worth sharing. The story does not involve Florida property owners, but it does involve hurricane-damaged homes, something many of us know well.
The hurricane season has been much quieter than anticipated, and it’s a lucky turn of events for a number of reasons. First and foremost, of course, Florida and other Atlantic and Gulf Coast states have avoided the property damage and fatalities the come with a major storm.
Any discussion of the National Flood Insurance Program rate hikes that went into effect on Oct. 1 has certainly been eclipsed by the news of the federal government shutdown. Homeowners along Florida’s coast, though, may be tuning out news about the shutdown when they see their new flood insurance premiums.
The reforms included in the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 were directed at making the National Flood Insurance Program more financially secure. In Florida, the arguments about fiscal responsibility and actuarially sound rate structures were merely an extension of the ongoing debate over the solvency of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. — until homeowners here started to open their mail.
Florida consumers and businesses are rallying to convince lawmakers to tackle one of the many proposals dropped from the insurance reform bill during the last legislative session. The Stronger Safer Florida Coalition is asking that the state no longer subsidize insurance for property owners who live outside of Florida.
Fighting with insurance companies over whether or not they will cover a claim can be one of the most frustrating and agonizing aspect of working in the medical field. Too often, clinics and physicians spend so much time trying to get an insurance company to cover the costs of certain procedures that they lose time working with the patients who need them.
Private insurance companies will take as many as 400,000 policyholders off the books of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by the end of 2013, if all goes as the insurance company hopes. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the plan recently as part of the state’s ongoing effort to “depopulate” Citizens by moving homeowners insurance policies from the state-backed carrier to the private market.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. recently announced its proposed rate increases for 2014. Homeowners covered by Florida’s state-backed insurer can expect an average 6.6 percent increase, but homeowners purchasing sinkhole coverage will not fare as well: The company is asking for a steep 24.8 percent hike (statewide average) over current rates.
The National Flood Insurance Program is a program managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Congress made some changes in 2012 that are prompting a big reaction in South Florida. Properties that are mortgaged and fall in a flood zone require flood insurance, and in Miami, that means a lot of people pay these premiums. In fact, 37 percent of all flood insurance policies cover properties in Florida, and 47,362 of those properties can be found in Miami-Dade County.
