Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Friday, July 26
Jul 26, 2013
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Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
There are no insurance-related events scheduled for today.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
A.M. Best Upgrades Ratings of State Farm Florida Insurance Company
A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating to B+ (Good) from B- (Fair) and the issuer credit rating to “bbb-” from “bb-” of State Farm Florida Insurance Company, an A.M. Best news release announces.
New rating may allow cheaper property insurance for Palm Beach County homeowners
Homeowners who live within five miles of a Palm Beach County fire-rescue station could see their property insurance premiums fall, Jennifer Sorentrue writes for the Palm Beach Post.
Florida Blue plans to reorganize
Executives for Florida Blue, the state’s oldest and largest health insurance provider, vowed at a public hearing in Miami on Thursday that the company’s plan to reorganize as a stock insurer under a mutual holding company would not affect executive compensation or negatively impact services to the approximately 4.2 million Floridians who hold policies, Dan Chang reports for the Miami Herald.
Insurance Giant Humana To Buy Key Player In Medicaid Program
As Florida prepares to move forward next month with shifting thousands of seniors into Medicaid managed-care plans, Humana, Inc., announced that it will buy a major player in the program, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA reports on WLRN.com.
Two insurers challenge bid process for state of Florida employee PPO coverage
Aetna and United Healthcare of Florida are challenging the bid process for a contract to administer a major part of the state employee health insurance program, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
Florida Near Bottom in Federal Health Grants
Last summer, Florida won a $2.3 million federal grant to expand a program that answers questions about health insurance. It’s called SHINE — short for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders — but the grant would have let all ages take advantage of the service, Health News Florida’s Carol Gentry reports on WCGU Radio NPR affiliate.
Capitol “Stand Your Ground” sit-in grows as busloads of supporters arrive
Thursday, three groups joined the Dream Defenders protest of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, the Florida Current’s James Call reports.
Florida Local Government Coalition Bands Together Public Servants Around The State
A new statewide coalition of public servants has launched to enhance local government collaboration with the goal to ensure that officials in one community know how to implement good ideas that work elsewhere. Peter Schorsch of SaintPetersBlog.com reports.
Florida retailers gear up for sales tax holiday
The back-to-school sales tax holiday is one week away. Florida Retail Federation president Rick McAllister said online purchases, which already do not collect sales taxes, are not eating away at the effect of the holiday, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.
Orlando the Runner-Up on “Most Sinful Cities in America” List
Motovo, which subheads itself as “the lighter side of real estate,” made Orlando the runner-up on its Most Sinful City in America list, Nancy Smith reports for SunshineStateNews.com.
After completing its current review of U.S. insurers as non-bank systemically important financial institutions (SIFI), the FSOC is likely to next turn its attention to large international insurers doing business in the U.S., according to Deloitte’s Howard Mills, who is a former New York insurance commissioner, Arthur Postal reports for National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com.
Wall Street Journal Blog: Lawmakers Move to Protect Insurers
A group of U.S. senators is seeking to make sure insurance firms won’t have to meet capital requirements intended for banks with new legislation targeting a measure Federal Reserve officials have said puts them in a bind, the Wall Street Journal’s Michael R. Crittenden reports.
Louisiana Parish not Responsible for Property Lost in Hurricane Fire
Jefferson Parish in Louisiana cannot be made to pay for belongings lost in a rented house that burned down at the height of Hurricane Gustav while the sheriff tried to put out the fire with a garden hose, a judge has ruled. Damageswere estimated at $400,000, the Associated Press reports in Insurance Journal.
Some Louisiana Homeowners Writers Want to Shrink Rating Territory
Some homeowners insurers in Louisiana are making moves to shrink rating territory sizes to drill into geographic variables and leverage the sophistication of their modeling technology to help better cope with hurricane risk, Michael Buck reports for A.M. Best’s BestWeek.
XL Group and Stone Point Capital Form New Company Focused on Reinsurance Capital Markets Products
XL Group and private equity firm Stone Point Capital LLC announced today the formation of a new Bermuda-based company to act as an investment manager in insurance-linked securities and other reinsurance capital markets products.
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