Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, January 12
Jan 12, 2009
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OIR Issues Final Order Denying State Farm Rate Increase
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) issued a Final Order today, January 12, 2009, affirming the ruling of an administrative law judge regarding the rate filing challenge issued by State Farm Florida.
Conseco Life Insurance Company and the Florida Office of Insurance Agree to Enter Discussions
Conseco Life Insurance Company (Conseco Life) today announced on January 9 that it has filed a Request for Hearing preserving its rights in response to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s December 22, 2008 Order to Show Cause. The company and Florida also have agreed to enter discussions regarding issues related to a group of universal life insurance policies issued in Florida and identified in the order.
Florida’s NCCI Details Cost Drivers In Comp Medical Claims
The National Council on Compensation Insurance in a new report examining worker injury medical treatment said it has found notable differences between small and large claims in the mix of services involved.
Florida’s chief financial officer calls for more senior fraud penalties
She wants to make crime a 3rd-degree felony and hold insurance companies more accountable for agents
Agents and brokers who sell annuities to senior citizens face more scrutiny under a new law that went into effect this month — and tougher penalties if they defraud their customers.
AM Best: Big Decisions Regarding Homeowners Insurance Again Face Florida Legislators, Regulators
Florida began the new year by losing a $224 million bet to billionaire Warren Buffett. That’s a lot of T-bone steaks.+
Some homeowners are upset with the “take-out” or shifting of insurance policies from Citizens. The idea is to lower the state-run insurer’s risk exposure. But, consumers believe it’s putting them at risk. It’s a part of the state’s ongoing attempt to stabilize Florida’s property insurance market.
OPINION: 2009 Florida Insurance Industry Challenges
We’ll Need to Stay Sharp and Alert to Succeed
For the first time since the Great Depression, leaders in the insurance industry are facing truly challenging economic conditions. For most of us, this will be the biggest challenge of our business careers. Will we succeed splendidly or fail miserably? Let’s consider the issues facing us in 2009 and how we might best respond to them.
The Florida property insurance market is in a mess.
State’s hurricane-insurance fund likely casualty of active storm season
Although Florida escaped relatively unscathed from what turned out to be an especially active 2008 hurricane season, the insurance industry was walloped by various natural catastrophes and a global financial crisis that undercut its profits more than at any time in the past 20 years.
EDITORIAL: New Ideas Could Bring Sound Hurricane Coverage
It’s a terrible time to have to think about raising property insurance rates, but a task force set up to make Citizens Property Insurance Corp. the homeowners’ insurer of last resort as it was originally intended to be has little recourse.
Titusville is in the running for cameras
Like Palm Bay, city wants to halt red-light wrecks
In 2007, Titusville had reported 47 vehicle accidents caused by red-light runners, and there were 27 in the first nine months of 2008. Now, the city wants to put a stop to it. Titusville is the second Brevard County city in less than a week to consider installing red-light cameras at major intersections. The Titusville City Council will consider the issue at a meeting Tuesday.
The Workers’ Compensation Cycle Continues
Many industries go through cycles of growth and decline, with the insurance industry – and the workers’ compensation line of business, in particular – clearly falling into this pattern. Strong insurers, agents, and employers don’t just live through these cycles; they look for the lessons inherent in any pattern and use them to prepare for the future.
AIG Client Sues Northrop Grumman Over Fatal 2005 Seaplane Crash
The maker of a vintage seaplane that crashed off Miami Beach in 2005, killing 20 people, is being sued in federal court.
Florida legislative leaders agree on cuts in spending
Florida’s hemorrhaging budget was all but patched up Sunday when legislative leaders agreed to cut enough spending and raid enough savings to leave at least $200 million in cash for the tough times ahead.
Nursing homes safe from $73M cut to Florida budget
Lawmakers agree on tax plan to draw down federal-assistance money
The 79,000 Floridians confined to nursing homes can breathe a little easier after state House and Senate budget negotiators agreed Saturday not cut nursing-home reimbursements by $73 million.
Where does Crist stand at midterm?
Midway through his term, Gov. Charlie Crist finds his sunny optimism tested almost daily as his state slips deeper into the worst recession in modern times. But the Republican governor keeps smiling.
Florida GOP gathers to plan for 2010
Like a football coach shrugging off a tough loss, Jim Greer urged Florida Republicans on Friday night to think about what went right in the 2008 elections and start getting in shape for a political rematch in less than 18 months.
With Jeb Bush out, angling begins for Florida Senate seat
So where do things stand for the GOP now that Jeb Bush is out of the running for Mel Martinez’s open Senate seat in 2010?
EDITORIAL: Florida needs a practical problem-solver to succeed Martinez
Most everyone agrees: For all his policy expertise, Jeb Bush wasn’t cut out for senatorial duty. Florida’s my-way-or-the-highway former governor didn’t suffer contrary views well, held grudges, thought patience was a vice.
Pro-Israel rally in Davie draws members of Congress
Wasserman Schultz says Israel had shown patience
With international pressure mounting on Israel to stop its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, South Florida’s Jewish community rallied behind the embattled nation Sunday.
Florida regulators support 20% renewable standard for 2020
The Florida Public Service Commission Utility Friday voted in support of rules that would increase the use of renewable energy at the pace urged by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Congresswoman promises to jump-start Washington’s commitment to Everglades restoration
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz pledged to make jump-starting Washington’s floundering commitment to restore the Everglades her “personal responsibility” as she takes hold of Congressional purse strings for the second year in a row.
Frank Introduces TARP Reform and Accountability Legislation
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) recently today introduced H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA). The legislation will strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation.
Waiver Granted for Mobile Homes in Louisiana’s Cameron Parish
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced it would allow mobile homes for hurricane victims in areas that new maps indicate are at risk of future flooding in Cameron Parish. But the occupants must be out of the units by June 1, the start of the next hurricane season.
NAMIC Report Defends Insurance Regulatory Structure
State-based insurance regulation has performed admirably through the U.S. economic crisis, and the turmoil in the financial markets should not be seen as a reason for implementing federal regulation of property-casualty insurance, a NAMIC report has concluded.
U.S. House Votes Reversal Of Supreme Court Rule On Wage Bias
The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Friday reversing a Supreme Court decision that severely limited workers’ ability to sue their employers over sex-based wage discrimination.
Lawmakers eye COBRA premium subsidy
Congressional negotiators trying to assemble a mammoth economic stimulus bill are considering including a provision to have the federal government subsidize COBRA health care continuation premiums for employees who lose their jobs, business lobbyists say.
OPINION: Changes in Life Insurance Industry Have Led to Better Guarantees
If you own life insurance, you probably think about it annually when the company sends the premium notice. You look at the statement, file it and write the check. Yet you’ll spend hundreds of hours regularly reviewing your investments.
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