Plus, a proposed alternative to workers’ comp
Citizens Property Insurance continues its streak of handing-off policies to the private market, regulators reveal changes to Florida’s storm mitigation discount credits, plus an alternative to workers’ compensation insurance may be offered Florida businesses. It’s all in this week’s Property Insurance News.
Citizens Reaching Equilibrium: Citizens Property Insurance continues to report good news on its efforts to return policies to the private market. Its policy count going into March was down to 848,000. President & CEO Tim Cerio told the company’s Board of Governors last week that Citizens has seen renewed interest in policy takeouts from the traditionally-avoided Tri-County South Florida area, with Cerio crediting the legislature’s litigation reforms that have led to lower rates. Citizens monthly count of new lawsuits was cut in half in 2024. Cerio and several Board of Governors’ members expressed enthusiastic support for bills before the legislature (HB 705 and SB 1448) that would remove the glide path from applying to new policies that are issued by Citizens after June 1, 2025, including those that might be renewed. Meanwhile, the new Citizens Clearinghouse, designed to divert ineligible applicants and existing policyholders into the private market, is in its final stages of implementation. One Citizens committee agreed to pursue a disclosure notice to the consumer, informing that there are 20 companies being shopped in the Clearinghouse, that not all may be represented by their particular agent, and that there may be a better price out there in the marketplace – this as a way to further reduce Citizens’ policy count. On the reinsurance front, Cerio said he expects to see better pricing from reinsurers during Citizens’ upcoming purchase for the summer hurricane season. You can read more in our full LMA report on the meeting here.
Mitigation Discount Credits: OIR held three preliminary meetings last month with the insurance industry and other stakeholders on the new storm mitigation discount credits and forms its proposing for carriers to use with their policyholders. Legislation enacted in 2023 requires the OIR to reevaluate and update the mitigation features that qualify for discounts and the amount of discounts every five years, starting in 2025. The mitigation discount credits (Forms 1699 and 1700) and mitigation verification inspection form (Form 1802) are being changed to reflect additional mitigation features or to provide more detailed information on existing features. There was some confusion expressed during the discussions on the timeline of the new discounts, as the proposed rule states that rate filings on or after January 1, 2026, must contain the new discounts but later states carriers must submit new filings within 90 days of the effective date of the rule to reflect the new discounts. It was also noted that homeowners would need to submit the inspection form every five years to keep their discount. Stay tuned. Here’s the proposed rule language for Forms 1699 & 1700 and for 1802.
Workers’ Comp Alternative: Late last month a Florida lawmaker introduced HB 1069 which, if passed, would allow Sunshine State businesses to create their own programs to compensate injured workers. This is the so-called “Texas Model.” The bill would allow businesses to continue providing benefits through state workers’ comp programs, or alternatively, switch to self-providing coverage so long as they create a written plan and demonstrate the ability to pay medical, indemnity and death benefits for their employees. This switch also requires that work performed in the scope of employment must be a major contributing cause of injury or death for a claim to be covered. The bill also makes specific mention of exposure to known occupational diseases, excluding “ordinary diseases of life to which the general public are exposed,” and makes providing benefits to any disease-affected employee compulsory. We’re watching the bill and will provide future updates.
Lisa addresses the PIA Florida Conference on March 13, 2025. Courtesy, Michael Hopkins
PIA Trade Show: Congratulations to the PIA of Florida for an incredible two-day annual meeting and conference of industry leaders in Daytona Beach this past week. Almost 50 insurance organizations were there meeting with agents from across the state to discuss ideas on how to make insurance better. I am proud to be their advocate, and send a special thank you to PIA President Lori Augustyniak for her well-written letter from PIA Florida on the recent misleading coverage of Florida’s insurance market.
LMA Newsletter of 3-17-25
