Last week when Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty issued a notice of intent to deny a 63.2 percent statewide average rate increase for homeowners insurance sought by First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, he was, in effect, issuing the official denial.
Jonathon Kees, assistant director of communication for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said that, in this case, intent to deny is equivalent to denial and “now First Floridian has the option to appeal the decision.”
The company writes more than 86,000 policies, with nearly half of them concentrated in five counties in Central and West Central Florida.
The news release announcing the denial quoted McCarty as saying, “I am keenly aware that Floridians have had a very difficult time dealing with higher insurance costs. However, this office will continue to vigorously monitor these requests to make sure that the past two hurricane seasons are not used to unjustly hike rates.”
First Floridian based its request on the increased expense of reinsurance. But state officials said the bid lacked sufficient support.
In May, the insurer submitted a 24.4 percent rate increase request but before state officials rulesd on that First Floridian replaced it with the 63.2 percent filing.
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