I don’t want to call this a great bill because it’s not. It won’t solve our problems in Florida, but it’s a real start. Hopefully Crist will do one thing right when it comes to insurance and sign this bill.
Crist will now sign because McCarty tells him to do so?
Florida is now borrowing almost $700 million to cover claims from 5 years ago, and the rates today are lower than they were 5 years. How out of touch can Crist be on this issue? Sign the freakin bill already.
They were never out of compliance. They had until the 7th to bring in extra capital to stay in compliance.
You’d think they’d make an announcement or something saying they raised the additional $5M needed.
The radio silence seems pretty strange to me. I’d be going out of my way to call all the agents to let them know it’s safe to write Olympus policies again.
I don’t know that I’d ever consider a young company to be a safe place to put policies. The failure of so many makes that clear. I know Olympus has some good management in place and they wouldn’t have paid that surplus note back to the government if they didn’t think they could afford it.
That said, Olympus has put out a memo addressing the issue. The lack of follow up only indicates there’s nothing to report.
The lack of follow up could also mean, as McCarty put it in his letter to Alex Cink, that he doesn’t want to tip people off if a carrier is in trouble so as not to have people “make a run on the bank” like in the depression.
Totally disagree Mr. Solvent. The memo they put out was ‘golly the folks at OIR are great people and we just can’t wait to cooperate fully….’.
That certainly requires follow-up. I will not write any policies with Olympus (didn’t write a ton to begin with) until I know for certain this issue is behind them.
The fact that they “couldn’t wait” to comply tells a good story. Look at People’s Trust’s initial response to inquiry and compare that to Olympus. Good management compared to a copier salesman.
As I’ve always said, I like my companies to be storm tested before I put them to use at my agency. If you were writing with Olympus before, I’m not exactly sure why you wouldn’t be now. They paid back their surplus note to the government WAY ahead of time. Reinsurance will be renegotiated effective 6/1.
I wouldn’t write with them now because, if they haven’t resolved that issue, they could get suspended. And that’s the first chapter in a tale that usually has a pretty unhappy ending.
And the reason I mocked their memo is because their rep told us that it was all a bunch of hooey and they would have a very strongly worded statement very soon. Three days later they churned out the kissy-face memo.
No. Crist won’t sign the bill beacuse McCarty tells him to. The only issue for Crist to consider is how it will affect his campaign. He may veto the bill just because he thinks he can get some love for beating up insurers – that seems to play well for populists.
By the way, Crist will throw McCarty under the bus on this one if he has to. He has no loyalty, and McCarty is about to find that out…
I don’t want to call this a great bill because it’s not. It won’t solve our problems in Florida, but it’s a real start. Hopefully Crist will do one thing right when it comes to insurance and sign this bill.
Mr. Solvent,
Have you heard anything re: Olympus?? Deadline was last Friday to square up with the OIR.
Hillsborough….I was just wondering the same thing this morning :)
Olympus is still in compliance and there’s no open investigation per OIR.
Crist will now sign because McCarty tells him to do so?
Florida is now borrowing almost $700 million to cover claims from 5 years ago, and the rates today are lower than they were 5 years. How out of touch can Crist be on this issue? Sign the freakin bill already.
They were never out of compliance. They had until the 7th to bring in extra capital to stay in compliance.
You’d think they’d make an announcement or something saying they raised the additional $5M needed.
The radio silence seems pretty strange to me. I’d be going out of my way to call all the agents to let them know it’s safe to write Olympus policies again.
I don’t know that I’d ever consider a young company to be a safe place to put policies. The failure of so many makes that clear. I know Olympus has some good management in place and they wouldn’t have paid that surplus note back to the government if they didn’t think they could afford it.
That said, Olympus has put out a memo addressing the issue. The lack of follow up only indicates there’s nothing to report.
The lack of follow up could also mean, as McCarty put it in his letter to Alex Cink, that he doesn’t want to tip people off if a carrier is in trouble so as not to have people “make a run on the bank” like in the depression.
Totally disagree Mr. Solvent. The memo they put out was ‘golly the folks at OIR are great people and we just can’t wait to cooperate fully….’.
That certainly requires follow-up. I will not write any policies with Olympus (didn’t write a ton to begin with) until I know for certain this issue is behind them.
The fact that they “couldn’t wait” to comply tells a good story. Look at People’s Trust’s initial response to inquiry and compare that to Olympus. Good management compared to a copier salesman.
As I’ve always said, I like my companies to be storm tested before I put them to use at my agency. If you were writing with Olympus before, I’m not exactly sure why you wouldn’t be now. They paid back their surplus note to the government WAY ahead of time. Reinsurance will be renegotiated effective 6/1.
…and clearly by my spelling my coffee has worn off.
I wouldn’t write with them now because, if they haven’t resolved that issue, they could get suspended. And that’s the first chapter in a tale that usually has a pretty unhappy ending.
And the reason I mocked their memo is because their rep told us that it was all a bunch of hooey and they would have a very strongly worded statement very soon. Three days later they churned out the kissy-face memo.
I suppose better that they play nice…I’m quite sure that their response isn’t exactly what Bill wanted it to be.
No. Crist won’t sign the bill beacuse McCarty tells him to. The only issue for Crist to consider is how it will affect his campaign. He may veto the bill just because he thinks he can get some love for beating up insurers – that seems to play well for populists.
By the way, Crist will throw McCarty under the bus on this one if he has to. He has no loyalty, and McCarty is about to find that out…