Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, June 2
Jun 2, 2008
“Florida is more vulnerable than ever to the devastating effects of a hurricane.â€
Dr. David A Sampson, President and CEO (above)
Property Casualty Insurers Association of America
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DR. DAVID A. SAMPSON: Don’t forget insurance in storm plan
It goes by many names — natural disaster syndrome, head in the sand thinking, pray now, pay later; but whatever you call it, there is a human tendency to believe the unthinkable will not happen to us.
Citizens Property set to hand off more policies
Six more insurance companies will be taking policies from Citizens Property Insurance.
Insurers see greater risk of hurricanes and charge more
Scientists disagree about whether global warming is promoting more hurricanes — but here’s an inconvenient truth:
Out of Katrina comes idea for damage tally
Longtime Volusia County Property Appraiser Morgan Gilreath is being recognized for a damage assessment model he designed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane season began Sunday, and if the worst-case scenario comes to pass, Florida residents will be facing a world of additional financial hurt on top of whatever damage they might suffer.
Hurricane Season Highlights Insurance Problems
Change isn’t blowing in the wind for homeowner insurance changes that local leaders wanted made before the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season opens tomorrow.
EDITORIAL: Another mean season
Florida’s insurance industry remains house of cards as hurricanes again come calling
Cross your fingers. Rub a rabbit’s foot. Say a prayer.
COLUMN: Hurricane insurance money bin
It’s an unsatisfying task to write about bad legislation that didn’t happen.
Families need to shop for good homeowners insurance
Since Hurricane Katrina blew ashore nearly three years ago and caused massive damage along the Gulf Coast, families in many coastal states have found it difficult and costly to get comprehensive homeowners insurance.
Disaster plan necessary but not necessarily costly
A spring that has already brought deadly and destructive weather to parts of the country is a reminder to small businesses that they need to prepare for disasters that could shut them down.
Are you covered? Better check policy’s fine print
Confused about your homeowners-insurance policy?
OPINION: Lawmakers leave us vulnerable
June 1 marks the first day of the 2008 hurricane season.
EDITORIAL: They’re taxpayers, not insurers of last resort
Arena Operators Should Pay Full Storm Premiums
In the real world, the owner of a rental property must charge enough rent to cover the mortgage, taxes and insurance.
EDITORIAL: Creative Windstorm Coverage
Hurricane season is upon us, and we should all hope for a year like the last two.
No storm has touched the state since Wilma in 2005, but if Florida is hit by a catastrophic storm this year, we’ll all be paying for it.
OPINION: Free inspections lower premiums
For all of Gov. Charlie Crist’s lectern-pounding attacks on the insurance industry and Florida’s giant leap into the private market, homeowners are scoring the biggest property insurance savings from a state program that stresses prevention.
‘Mr. Hurricane’ suggests: Think like a ‘survivor’
As Florida warily enters another hurricane season, the images remain of federal and state officials plucking survivors of Katrina off rooftops in New Orleans or tossing food and water to Floridians hit by seven hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.
Florida Power & Light says it’s tougher, ready for storm season
With all the cash Florida Power & Light Co. has pumped into storm upgrades since Hurricane Wilma, how prepared is it for a hurricane?
Officials with the state’s largest utility say prolonged power outages that leave neighborhoods in the dark for weeks shouldn’t occur during the 2008 storm season that officially began Sunday.
EDITORIAL: Prepared for hurricane season? Let’s hope so
ISSUE: South Floridians not rushing yet for hurricane supplies.
Let’s give South Floridians some credit.
Diaz-Balarts back bill after donation
Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart co-sponsored a bill shortly after accepting $10,000 in campaign contributions from a company pushing the bill. They say the legislation is needed.
A Maryland prosthetics company pushing a new federal bill that would broaden insurance coverage for its products — and boost its bottom line — has enlisted significant political support from two of South Florida’s most prominent members of Congress.
New law clarifies cities’ boundaries for police, fire-rescue responses
With some Broward County cities’ boundaries wiggling and zig-zagging, it can be tough to tell which city you’re in. And if you’re responding to an emergency, that can be dangerous.
State’s bad deals under scrutiny
In July and August of 2007, the state agency that manages billions of dollars in public investments bought at least $2.3-billion in securities from three Wall Street firms.
COMMENTARY: Progress Energy customers, brace yourself
Progress Energy Florida, the primary power provider in Central Florida, is seeking to increase your monthly bill by about 8 percent because its fuel costs have been far higher than projected.
COLUMN: Tobacco-free hiring reduces costs and improves the workplace
Facing reduced productivity and higher insurance costs from people who smoke, many employers are deciding not to hire tobacco users.
Some ‘turkeys’ survive tight budget
Lawmakers showed more restraint this year in drawing up the state’s $66.2 billion budget, but still tucked in more than $110 million in questionable spending projects, according to an annual review by Florida TaxWatch.
For better or worse, term limits forcing out lawmakers
The 28 men and women retiring from the Florida Legislature in November were sworn into office during the 2000 presidential recount and arrived as the largest class of newcomers to the Legislature in modern times.
Good Time to Lock in Property Insurance Pricing, Advises Guy Carpenter
Science and technology are converging with risk management to help insurers negotiate the current hurricane season such that it’s now possible to use short-term hurricane forecasts — as few as 10 days out — to design coverage targeting a specific area of the Florida coastline, for example.
State Regulators Consider Centralizing Insurance Market Conduct Reporting
State insurance regulators want to centralize the filing and storage of their annual market conduct reports on insurance companies.
Reinsurance Placements Seen As Tougher Than In Primary Insurance Market
While there are differences between the current soft market and previous ones, some destructive behaviors just never seem to change, a group of reinsurance actuaries suggested at a recent seminar.
New IMARC Data Score Rates Insurers’ Hurricane Risk Assessment
The first of a new mark that rates how well insurance companies have assessed their potential catastrophe losses has been issued to HomeWise Insurance Companies by Karen Clark & Co.
NAIC Gets Earful Over Proposal To Collect Market Conduct Data
Insurance groups strongly object, but consumer advocates urge fuller disclosure
Insurance industry and consumer groups remain bitterly at odds over a controversial proposal to collect market conduct data as part of the annual statement process and house it in a centralized data bank.
Rating Reform Benefits Bond Market
Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) moved forward today with a regulatory response that will help the municipal bond market by reducing pressure on insurance companies to sell bonds insured by downgraded bond insurers.
RMS Attends Chinese Regulatory Conference to Promote Data Standards
In the wake of the devastating Sichuan earthquake, representatives from The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), Risk Management Solutions (RMS), and China’s Institute of Engineering Mechanics (IEM) met with more than 100 representatives of the domestic Chinese insurance industry at a recent seminar in Beijing.
Texas Approves 10 Companies to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp
Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Albert Betts approved 10 companies, employing approximately 31,400 employees in Texas, to self-insure for workers’ compensation claims for a one-year period under the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation Self Insurance Program.
U.K. Court Ready To Set Triggers For Employer Asbestos Liability Disputes
Key is when loss was ‘sustained’ between exposure and symptoms
With the asbestos liability problem looming large in the United Kingdom—almost certainly the second-largest in the world next to that of the United States—the English High Court this month will determine trigger points for various employers’ liability policies.
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