Insurance

More than 10 years of catastrophic hurricanes in the United States has led to an insurance crisis of sorts, especially in hurricane prone states. Florida Storms digital meteorologist Leslie Hudson has more.

State data released last week showed that 776,941 insurance claims had been reported from Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Southwest Florida in 2022 and crossed the state.

In an issue that might ultimately have to be sorted out by the Florida Supreme Court, an appeals court has sided with a Collier County homeowner in a dispute about a 2021 law that placed additional hurdles to filing lawsuits against property insurers.The ruling last week by a panel of the 6th District Court of Appeal dealt with whether part of the law could apply to policies issued before the law took effect. The panel agreed with arguments by attorneys for homeowner Rebecca Hughes, whose home sustained water damage in 2019 but who did not file a lawsuit against Universal Property Insurance & Casualty Insurance Co. over the claim until August 2021 — about a month after the law took effect.

Estimated insured losses from Hurricane Idalia have topped $200 million and continue to increase.

Almost a year after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, leaving so much destruction in its path, a local business owner shares his story of survival and continuing struggles with insurance.

The cost of homeowners insurance in Florida has increased 100 percent over the last few years

Farmers Insurance may know a thing or two, and one of them is that the company is not going to write new policies or renew existing policies. The non-renewals will play out over several months.

The market for reinsurance — a critical piece of Florida’s property-insurance system — is improving. But it comes at a price.Those are takeaways from new reports as Florida insurers try to bounce back after two years of homeowners losing policies and facing major rate increases because of financial troubles in the industry.Reinsurance, which is essentially insurance for insurers, helps drive the catastrophe-prone Florida insurance system. When the market for reinsurance is tight and costly, the effects trickle down to homeowners’ policies.

The Department of Financial Services will be hosting an insurance village Wednesday, April 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center, 75 Taylor St., in Punta Gorda.

Ahead of the 2023 regular session of the Florida legislature kicks off March 7, we get a preview of top legislative proposals, and what they could mean for Florida residents in a conversation with FGCU Political Science professors Roger Green, Ph.D., and Peter Bergerson, Ph.D.