State regulators are considering rate hikes for Citizens Property Insurance customers. The state-backed insurer is pushing for a nearly 7 percent average increase to keep up with water claims.
State lawmakers have the spent the past few years at a low boil—fighting with little progress over an insurance tool called assignment of benefits. The mechanism allows a homeowner to hand over insurance negotiations to the company repairing damage.
The problem, according to Citizens Insurance Chief Risk Officer John Rollins, is it’s leading to out of control water claims.
“Those claims now represent well over half of the entire premium dollar,” Rollins says. “So that is clearly the big opportunity is to change those trends.”
The Office of Insurance Regulation, headed up by new chief David Altmaier, will now decide whether to approve the rates. Altmaier took over after a contentious nominating process in which CFO Jeff Atwater and Governor Rick Scott backed different candidates for the post.
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