TALHASSEE – Democrats are calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez to investigate the state’s report revealed by the Times/Herald.
House minority leader Fentris Driskel, D Tampa, called on The Times/Herald Story to Desantis to call a large statewide ju umpire, and to establish a new committee to investigate the report and investigate why lawmakers did not receive it.
“We need to know what happened, who knew what, and why this information was hidden from us,” writes Driskel.
The Times/Herald reported last week in its 2022 state report. This found that insurance companies were diverting billions of dollars to affiliate companies at the start of the homeowners insurance crisis.
The study found that between 2017 and 2019, most insurers reported a net loss of $432 million, justifying a significant increase in interest rates.
At the same time, the affiliate company reported net profit of $1.8 billion. The insurance company also spent $680 million on dividends to shareholders over these three years.
The Times/Herald requested a report in November 2022, but the Insurance and Regulations did not take over the enforcement summary until December 2024.
The report has never been published previously and was not shared with lawmakers to address the state’s collapsed homeowners insurance market ahead of the two emergency law sessions in 2022. Lawmakers ultimately made it difficult for them to sue the insurance company.
Some lawmakers at the time questioned the role of insurance companies in the crisis.
“For years, Floridians have struggled under this insurance crisis, but we found that these companies have used loopholes to quietly move billions of dollars in profits. “This is outrageous and Florida people need an answer.”
Desantis and Perez spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Insurance Regulation Authority said the survey was not a complete picture of the homeowners insurance market, but it showed that more information and recent efforts on supervision regarding the insurance company’s affiliates have been guaranteed.
It was not given to lawmakers because it was “not an official examination report,” the office said in a statement earlier this month.
“Our office does not release all internal analysis of the company to Congress,” the office said.
The office paid the contractor $150,000 to create the research, which has not been repeated since.
The state has long allowed insurers to use affiliate companies to seduce investors into one of the country’s most risky homeowners insurance markets.
Insurance companies’ profits are concluded by state regulators at around 4.5%. However, companies set up a web of sisters and parent companies that charge insurance companies’ fees for services such as claim processing, and these services may be far greater than their costs.
Once the money leaves the insurance company, it will no longer be able to pay the claim and will no longer be available under the supervision of state regulators.
It can also make your insurance company financially weaker. Excessive fees to affiliates have been repeatedly cited as a reason why businesses are insolvent.
The authors of the study concluded that 19 of 30 Florida-based insurance companies have entered into financial contracts with “fair and inappropriate” affiliates, a term not defined by state law. Regulators were asked to define the “actual cost” of services, but lawmakers in 2023 refused to do so.
The office is asking lawmakers to define it again this year.
