Agents voice opinions, did Citizens listen?

It was interesting to hear both sides of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. story, including concerns voiced by independent agents, when Citizens officials held impromptu afternoon briefings and question and answer sessions during the Florida Association of Insurance Agent’s Conference in Orlando (see story page 8).

Two Citizens employees, Paul Palumbo and Suzanne Murphy, contacted FAIA and said they would like to attend the conference and discuss concerns directly with agents attending the conference. FAIA Chairman Veronica Della Porta announced during the June 16 morning general session that two Citizens representatives had volunteered to hold hour-long conferences beginning at noon and running throughout the afternoon.

The conference room the meetings were held in only accomodated 60 persons–expecting an overflow crowd, Della Porta asked agents to only send one representative per agency to the briefings. She also asked everyone to be civil and treat the Citizens spokespersons with respect. One suspects everyone initially wondered if the meetings would deteriorate into shouting matches, but to the relief of everyone attending, that never developed.

Several agents, however, were outspoken, criticizing Citizens for the attitude, “We are Citizens and we are going to ram our policies down your throat.”

During the noon session, there were a handful of agents standing at the back of the room; but at the 1 p.m. session only about 40 agents were present and there were 20 empty seats.

Although some agents complained that Citizens was the “insurer of ONLY-resort,” the proceedings during the meetings were orderly and it seemed a lot was accomplished.

Murphy, a Citizens vice president, and Palumbo, a senior actuary, at first seemed defensive, but as the sessions proceeded they became more comfortable as they realized the agents were ready to listen and be reasonable.

The sessions even provided the Citizens representatives with an opportunity to air their own problems:

They had not expected to be saddled with more than 300,000 policies from Poe Financial and its subsidiaries;

Although they were in the process of hiring 150 former Poe employees to make the transition, it was not going as smoothly as anticipated, and they even suggested Poe officials were uncooperative and were even sometimes hampering their efforts to make a smooth transition; and

Due to recommendations and requirements passed in the Florida Legislature, things they would “like to do” to improve their efficiency have taken a back seat to mandatory items instituted by the Florida Legislature.

The sessions gave Citizens a chance to tell agents that it sees itself as swimming against a strong current; while agents also had a chance voice their concerns to Murphy and Palumbo that they need faster turnaround which if they don’t get, could mean they end up with a mountain of errors and omissions claims.

Now agents representing Citizens are waiting to see if Murphy and Palumbo listened to their concerns and if they can implement helpful changes before that river of policies Citizens is facing adds up to more than a million policies.