Commissioner McCarty Denies Rate Increases For Hartford Insurance Companies

The Office of Insurance Regulation has just released the following:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (09/12/2007) – Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty today announced the denial of eight rate filings submitted by insurance companies of The Hartford Financial Services Group. The filings submitted were not actuarially justified and lacked supporting information. 

The Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) sent Notices of Intent to deny the rate filings, because the proposed rate increase was not commensurate with the savings obtained through the expansion of state-funded reinsurance supplied by House Bill 1A. Reinsurance is the insurance that companies buy to cover large losses.

“I am committed to ensuring that insurance companies doing business in Florida are offering policyholders the best rates possible,” said McCarty. “The rates proposed by The Hartford are not in line with this objective.”

The decision to deny the rate increases followed an Aug. 16 public hearing in which the Office questioned various aspects of the rate filings. Click here http://www.floir.com/pcfr/RateHearingVideo.htm to view the video of the public hearing.

Companies have until Sept. 30 to submit their final reduced rate filings mandated by the law, and the Office will continue to review each one to ensure they are complete and reflect the policyholder savings ordered by the Legislature. 

The Commissioner has the authority to hold a public hearing to question a company about its filing pursuant to Florida law. The schedule of upcoming public rate hearings and the television schedule to see them are located on the Office’s Web site at http://www.floir.com/pcfr/RateHearings.htm http://www.floir.com/pcfr/RateHearings.htm.

Click here http://www.floir.com/pdf/NOI-HODFCMP.pdf to read the Notices of Intent to deny the rate filings.

About the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has primary responsibility for regulation, compliance and enforcement of statutes related to the business of insurance and the monitoring of industry markets. Business units within the Office are organized based on regulatory expertise and include the areas of life and health, property and casualty, specialty lines and other regulated insurance entities. It is within the Office that the mission of public protection is implemented through regulatory oversight of insurance company solvency, policy forms and rates, market conduct performance and new company entrants to the Florida market.

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For more information regarding this press release, please contact either Ed Domansky or Jonathon Kees at (850) 413-2515.  Alternatively, please feel free to contact this office with any comments or questions.