Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
News Briefs
Dec 4 2005 // ALABAMA Alabama Expects 50,000 Claims More than 50,000 claims are expected in Alabama from hurricane damage, however, complete cost estimates won’t be available until this month. Ragan Ingram, Department of Insurance...
Citizens Board Agrees to Increase Florida Rates; OIR Approval Necessary
Dec 4 2005 // Home insurance rate increases as high as 31 percent for some properties, were approved Nov. 17 by the board of governors of Citizens Property Insurance Co., Florida’s insurer of last resort, and now have to go to the...
FAIA: Employment Crisis Threatens Agencies
Dec 4 2005 // An impending employment crisis is threatening independent insurance agents and will become disastrous by 2010 unless employers act now, Lisa Harrington, Florida Association of Insurance Agents vice president of education...
News Briefs
Dec 4 2005 // New Online License Service Available for Wash. Agents and Brokers Insurance agents, brokers and other insurance professionals licensed to transact business in Washington can now print copies of their licenses from their...
Insurance Commissioners Announce Framework for National Cat Program
Dec 4 2005 // Insurance regulators from California, Florida, Illinois and New York, on the heels of the National Catastrophe Insurance Summit held in November, are peddling the framework for a national catastrophe insurance program that...
States Claim National Catastrophe Plan Would Save Taxpayers
Dec 4 2005 // Insurance regulators from California, Florida, Illinois and New York, on the heels of last month’s National Catastrophe Insurance Summit, are peddling a national catastrophe insurance program that they say would aid...
South Financial Group Acquires Lossing Insurance Agency of Ocala, Fla.
Dec 2 2005 // The Lossing Insurance Agency, an independent agency based in Ocala, Fla. has been acquired by the South Financial Group Inc. of Greenville, S.C. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition gives The South...
Black Market AIDS Ring Members Apprehended for Diverting Drugs from Medicaid Recipients
Dec 1 2005 // Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta today announced the arrests of four individuals, including two Miami physicians, for their participation in an organization that illegally diverted...
Florida Big ‘I’ Suggests Elimination of HRA Would Solve the State’s Wind Risk Problem
Nov 30 2005 // A proposed “solution” to Florida’s hurricane insurance problems, based on impressive research and an independent actuarial analysis showing hundreds of millions of dollars in savings has been announced by...
Florida ‘Fraud Fighters Program’ Pays $16,000 in Rewards to Tipsters Reporting Schemes
Nov 29 2005 // Five individuals who reported fraud perpetrators have received $16,000 in cash rewards from the Florida Financial Services Department after the recipients, including a child, provided information that led fraud detectives...
Florida Reduces 2006 Longshore Rates
Nov 29 2005 // Longshore rates in Florida have taken another reduction according to LIG Marine Managers of St. Petersburg, Fla. On top of the general rate reductions approved by the state, the Longshore surcharge has again been reduced...
Demotech Gives Nationwide of Florida an ‘A’ Rating
Nov 29 2005 // Demotech Inc. has confirmed that a Financial Stability Rating (FSR) of A, Exceptional, remains in place for Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida. The confirmation comes after NICOF received a capital infusion from...
Experts Predict More Advances Soon in Ability to Predict Hurricanes
Nov 28 2005 // Hurricane Wilma was briefly the most intense Atlantic storm on record as it moved through the Caribbean toward the Gulf Coast. That was the last thing Gulf residents wanted to hear. Two months earlier, Hurricane Katrina...
Busiest Hurricane Season on Record Ends Nov. 30
Nov 28 2005 // Hurricane Season 2005 officially comes to a close Wednesday Nov. 30 and according to Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO, people will be dealing with the aftermath for years to come. Nationwide, this season was the busiest...
Jacksonville Planners Preparing for 2006 Hurricane Season
Nov 25 2005 // Jacksonville, Fla. residents should begin to prepare now for the 2006 hurricane season according to Chip Patterson, chief of the city’s Emergency Preparedness Division. Patterson recently told the Chamber of...
Florida’s CFO Gallagher Backs National Catastrophe Fund
Nov 25 2005 // A National Catastrophe Fund that would provide assistance for insurance claims in Florida has been endorsed by Tom Gallagher, Florida’s CFO. The CFO’s recommendations came after officials, including Florida...
Best Removes FSR of Nationwide of Florida from Under Review
Nov 22 2005 // A.M. Best Co. has removed the financial strength rating of B (Fair) of Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida (NICOF) from under review. The rating outlook is negative. Removal of the under review status follows the...
Fla. CFO Gallagher Voices Support for Tax-Deferred CAT Fund Reserves
Nov 21 2005 // The serious challenge to Florida’s economy, the rising cost of property insurance and five solutions to hurricane issues were discussed on Nov. 7 in Tallahassee by Florida’s CFO Tom Gallagher at a briefing...
People & Places
Nov 21 2005 // David Stevoff Michael A. Moran has joined Insurance & Benefits Consultants of Sarasota, Fla., as president. Angela Peterson Moran’s new responsibilities were announced after Florida Preferred Administrators Inc....
USDA TO ASSESS WILMA’S CITRUS DAMAGE
Nov 21 2005 // In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, which struck Florida Oct. 24, the Florida Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service announced plans to conduct a special citrus survey to assess current crop...
