XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: or.politics, alt.atheism   
   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   >   
   >Insurance giant Allstate has stopped writing new policies   
      
   Looks like Florida is on the chopping block too.  But only because it's   
   inhabited by ignorant right wing scumbags who rape their own kin when   
   they're not stealing money and sending it to the fat deviant pervert child   
   molester DeSantis or felony defendant Trump.   
      
   Can lawmakers save the collapsing Florida home insurance market?   
      
   The Florida home insurance market has spent most of 2022 tumbling toward   
   collapse, but recent legislation just might avert disaster. Bankrate dug   
   deep into the Florida insurance industry to discover the cause of the   
   problem and to report on the proposed solutions. We can help you   
   understand why the Florida home insurance crisis is happening and your   
   options if you receive a cancellation or nonrenewal notice on your   
   homeowners insurance policy.   
      
   The crisis in the Florida insurance market   
      
   Florida has always been a complex home insurance market, but recent issues   
   are pushing the state’s market to the point of collapse. Since 2017, six   
   property and casualty companies that offered homeowners insurance in   
   Florida liquidated. Five more are in the liquidation process in 2022.   
   Other insurance companies are voluntarily leaving the state. Even more are   
   choosing to nonrenew swaths of home insurance policies, drastically   
   tighten their policy eligibility requirements or request substantial rate   
   increases.   
      
   For Florida homeowners, this is resulting in fewer home insurance   
   companies and increased premiums. When a company goes insolvent, the   
   Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) takes on any claims that   
   still need to be paid by that company. In late August, FIGA’s board and   
   the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved a .7 percent   
   assessment to help cover the costs of open claims associated with the   
   liquidated companies. That’s the second assessment this year, with a 1.3   
   percent assessment approved in March. Homeowners will pay these fees   
   regardless of the insurance company they are with.   
      
   According to Logan McFaddin, Vice President of State Government Relations   
   at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association,   
      
   Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate (ICA) Tasha Carter agrees, saying,   
   “Homeowners insurance options in Florida have become more and more   
   limited, and consumers are facing dire consequences.”   
      
   Why are home insurance companies leaving Florida?   
      
   Florida insurers are canceling policies, leaving the state or liquidating   
   at a rapid pace. Why? What is behind these companies’ aversion to insuring   
   Florida homes?   
      
   Florida has always presented a risky market to home insurance companies   
   due to the high threat of widespread weather-related damage, but the   
   current crisis is caused by a number of factors reaching a boiling point   
   at the same time.   
   Insurance fraud in Florida   
      
   The biggest issue right now in Florida is home insurance fraud, driven by   
   fraudulent roofing claims. A proclamation from the office of Governor Ron   
   DeSantis notes that, although Florida only accounts for 9 percent of the   
   country’s home insurance claims, it is home to 79 percent of the country’s   
   home insurance lawsuits. Many of these lawsuits are fraudulent. ICA Carter   
   explains how the scams generally work:   
      
       First, roofers canvas neighborhoods and offer inspections to   
   unsuspecting homeowners. These contractors inevitably “find damage” on the   
   roof and often promise a “free roof” to the homeowner, claiming they can   
   have the home insurance deductible waived.   
       Homeowners are pressured to sign an assignment of benefits form,   
   giving contractors the right to file an insurance claim on their behalf.   
       A claims adjuster from the insurance company inspects the alleged   
   damage. The adjuster either finds no damage or far more minimal damage   
   than the contractor found, and the claim payout is less than what the   
   contractor demanded.   
       The contractor brings legal action against the insurance company,   
   demanding a claim payout for the contractor’s original quote. Remember,   
   the homeowner signed the benefits of the policy to the contractor, so the   
   contractor doesn’t need the homeowner’s permission to do this.   
       The insurance company now has a choice: it can pay the legal costs to   
   fight the lawsuit or pay the costs to settle out of court. Either way, the   
   insurance company loses money due to the legal action.   
      
   ICA Carter notes that “these schemes are real and are happening more   
   frequently,” which puts more and more financial pressure on insurance   
   companies, especially in a state with high claims costs due to weather-   
   related events.   
      
   According to Mark Friedlander, Director of Corporate Communications at the   
   Insurance Information Institute, “Florida property insurers are projected   
   to post a cumulative underwriting loss of $1.7 billion for 2021” due to   
   these runaway litigation costs. The governor’s office reports that, for   
   two consecutive years, net underwriting losses have exceeded $1 billion.   
   It’s no wonder that so many companies are going insolvent or leaving the   
   state before they reach that point.   
      
   On top of that, Florida also previously had a “one-way attorney fee”   
   system. This meant that, when a court ruled in favor of the plaintiff (in   
   this case, a home insurance policyholder or the third-party contractor who   
   filed the claim), the defendant (in this case, the insurance company) was   
   responsible for paying the plaintiff’s attorney fees. So not only were   
   insurers paying for fraudulent lawsuits, they were also paying for the   
   fraudster’s legal costs. Friedlander notes that the insurance reform bill   
   passed in December 2022 “addresses the two root causes of Florida’s   
   residential insurance crisis — litigation abuse and assignment of benefits   
   (AOB) abuse…Eliminating both is necessary to slow down the mass volume of   
   lawsuits being filed against Florida insurers.” Going forward, assignment   
   of benefits forms are banned for home insurance losses and Florida will no   
   longer operate a one-way attorney fee system.   
   Roof age   
      
   Instead of leaving altogether, some companies are tightening their   
   underwriting restrictions to lessen the risk of these scams. This may be   
   the reason why several companies — including Southern Fidelity,   
   Progressive and Universal — have chosen to continue operations in Florida   
   but have nonrenewed tens of thousands of policies.   
      
   However, companies are now prohibited from denying coverage solely based   
   on roof age if the roof is fewer than 15 years old and has a life   
   expectancy of five years at the time the policy is issued. That said,   
   insurers will have to decide if they are comfortable with these   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)