Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. have agreed on property insurance rate changes – including an average 35 percent decrease for homes and a 15.2 percent increase for mobile homes — in Monroe County, which includes the Keys.
The 35 percent decrease is slightly bigger than the original 32.2 percent decrease ordered by the Office of Insurance Regulation in August after it challenged rates being charged by Citizens. The bigger rate cut will be mandated for a one year and is meant to compensate policyholders who were previously charged an excess rate. No refunds will be made.
The new rates in Monroe County will become effective for new and renewal business as of Jan. 1, 2007.
Citizens had originally sought to raise rates in Monroe County by 25.9 percent for homeowners policies and to increase manufactured homeowners rates by 20.4 percent.
By law Citizens rates must be both actuarially sound and must be higher than the rates charged by private insurance companies. However, the 2005 Florida Legislature ordered a study to determine whether a reasonable degree of competition existed in Monroe County. An OIR report in March concluded there is not a competitive market for Monroe County, a finding that eliminated the requirement that the county’s rates had to be higher than those charged by private insurance companies.
Monroe County residents have been paying higher rates since March 2006. OIR challenged the Monroe County rates in May and, in August, ordered Citizens to reduce rates by about 32 percent.
Topics Trends Pricing Trends Homeowners
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