Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
How Home Values Track with High, Low Risk of Natural Hazards: ATTOM Data
Sep 22 2017 // Americans are still buying homes in areas with high risk of natural hazards and the homes in those cities continue to appreciate in value far faster than homes in low natural hazard locales. However, the effect on home...
Florida Suspends License of Nursing Home After 9th Patient Dies
Sep 22 2017 // Florida officials have suspended the license of a nursing home that had nine patients die after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning. The Agency for Health Care Administration said Wednesday that it suspended...
Power Restored For All But 75K Florida Residents, But Utilities Face Criticism
Sep 22 2017 // After a massive restoration effort, most of Florida has power 10 days after Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to nearly two-thirds of the state, mostly because of improvements made to the power grid since Hurricane...
Insurance Industry Tallies Irma’s Mounting Losses in Florida
Sep 22 2017 // With two Florida landfalls in the same day, Hurricane Irma‘s destructive wind and flood damage could cost up to $65 billion for both insured and uninsured losses, according to a recent estimate by...
Insurance Industry Foundation Opens Charity Fund for Hurricane Irma Victims
Sep 21 2017 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization for insurance industry charitable giving, has launched a new disaster relief fund to assist the millions affected by the catastrophic damage of...
Home in Orange County, Florida Partially Swallowed by Sinkhole
Sep 21 2017 // A Florida home has been partially swallowed up by a massive sinkhole. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kat Kennedy says crews responded Tuesday morning, shortly after the Apopka house began sinking. She says the...
States Need Better Protections for Insurance Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report
Sep 21 2017 // As homeowners continue to file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a research report released by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., suggests...
Fitch: Hurricane Irma Losses Substantial, But Won’t Weaken Insurer Ratings
Sep 21 2017 // Estimated insured losses for the insurance industry for Hurricane Irma range from $25 to $50 billion based on various loss estimates, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said these losses will...
Most Produce Farmers Hit by Recent Hurricanes Not Covered by Federal Crop Insurance
Sep 20 2017 // In the U.S, government-backed insurance plans help compensate farmers for losses after natural disasters. Unfortunately for the produce growers that were ravaged by recent hurricanes, a lot of the nation’s vegetable...
Do You Remember Before You Knew Insurance?
Sep 20 2017 // When Hurricane Andrew made landfall in August 1992, I was a young soldier. To be honest, I was much more interested in my young Army career than a hurricane. When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, I had just...
Chemical Explosion at Florida Food Warehouse Injures 3
Sep 20 2017 // Authorities say three people suffered injuries in a chemical explosion at a Florida warehouse. Lakeland Fire Department officials said about 50 people were eflvacuated from the area around the Natural Advantage Food...
Agriculture Officials Say Florida Crops Devastated by Irma
Sep 20 2017 // Florida’s agriculture commissioner said Monday that the path of Hurricane Irma “could not have been more lethal” to the state’s farmers and that the scope of damage to the state’s fruits and...
Expert’s Advice to Florida Agents: Report Claims That Fall Below Hurricane Deductible
Sep 19 2017 // With many agents currently assisting clients in determining if they have claims and the insurance claim filing process in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, one most common question received by the Florida Association of...
4 Hurricane Irma-Affected U.S. Attorney Offices Form Fraud Task Forces
Sep 19 2017 // The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) along with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the District of Puerto Rico, Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida and Northern District of Florida have formed...
Florida’s Insured Losses From Irma Reach Nearly $2B and Growing
Sep 19 2017 // Florida policyholders so far have filed nearly $2 billion in claims to insurers for damage from Hurricane Irma, the state’s insurance regulator said on Monday. The estimate of insured losses is based on preliminary...
Hey Congress, Hurricanes and Health Care Have a Lot in Common: Bloomberg View
Sep 18 2017 // As Congress continues to struggle with health insurance reform, members should be ruminating on the scenes of “recovery” beaming in from East Texas and Florida, where the majority of households — many now...
Firms Hit by Harvey, Irma Hope Business Interruption Coverage Pays Off
Sep 18 2017 // Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers. Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along...
What Went Wrong at Florida Nursing Home Where 8 Residents Died
Sep 18 2017 // The first 911 call from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills didn’t sound ominous: A nursing home patient had an abnormal heartbeat. An hour later, came a second call: a patient had trouble breathing. Then...
A.M. Best: Hurricane Irma to Test Florida Market Newbies
Sep 18 2017 // Although insured losses as a result of Hurricane Irma will not be as severe as originally forecast, the storm still represents a sizeable catastrophe event that will test the infrastructure and potentially strain the...
Florida Workers’ Comp Premiums Going Down?
Sep 18 2017 // Just under a year since Florida workers’ compensation rates shot up by 14.5 percent, Florida businesses may get some relief in their workers’ comp premiums. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI)...
