Property Insurance Rates Falling In Florida

Friday, October 03, 2008

Insurance Rates Falling In Florida

Melbourne, FL - Property Insurance rates have fallen 16 percent and 30 new companies have begun selling policies in Florida over the last 20 months.  Recent legislation made reinsurance cheaper for the industry and required insurers to pass those savings on to their policyholders. Additionally, new legislation has rewarded policy holders for hardening their homes, having wind mitigation inspections, and has given more power to the Office of Insurance Regulation to deny the frequent requests from insurance companies to raise rates.

Senator Bill Posey, who helped craft the legislation as Chairman of the Banking and Insurance Committee, issued the following statements:

“After two special sessions on insurance within the past year, we were able to pass two major reform bills.  We are now seeing the positive results of all that hard work.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as more insurance companies move in to Florida; competition will continue to drive the rates down.”

“I fought hard to get rid of ‘use and file’, which prevents insurance companies from hiking rates on Florida homeowners without due justification and approval from the State first.  Recent rate hike denials prove that the system is working and protecting Florida homeowners.  We also forced insurance companies to disclose all discounts for hardening homes to their policyholders and homeowners are now beginning to see those savings as well.  With these comprehensive reforms, it sometimes takes awhile before the full impact is felt, but we are definitely moving in the right direction.”

Senator Posey is the Republican nominee for Florida’s 15th Congressional District.

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