The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced it will conduct a rate hearing on Aug. 31, 2017 to receive public comment on Citizens’ proposed rate changes for its business in the Coastal Account (CA), Commercial Lines Account, and Personal Lines Account (PLA). These accounts include, but are not limited to: commercial property, homeowners, mobile homeowners, and the dwelling fire lines of business. Additional filings on behalf of Citizens will be forthcoming and evidence regarding such filings may be received at the hearing.
The hearing is in response to Citizens’ 2018 rate filing that proposed an overall statewide rate increase of 5.3 percent. The insurer has largely blamed the increase on the surge in water loss claims with an assignment of benefits, that has fueled increased litigation and claims payouts for the company.
OIR said the proposed rate changes, included below (by file log number) as filed by Citizens, can be accessed via the “I-File Forms & Rate Filing Search” system.
| File Log # | Overall Proposed Rate Change | Account |
|---|---|---|
| 17-16826 | +6.7 | Homeowners Multi-Peril (PLA) |
| 17-16827 | +1.7 | Homeowners Wind Only (CA) |
| 17-16966 | +5.2 | Property/Personal (Dwelling Fire) (PLA) |
| 17-16967 | +6.3 | Property/Personal (Dwelling Fire) Wind Only (CA) |
| 17-17210 | +3.9 | Mobile Homeowners Multi-Peril (PLA) |
| 17-17211 | +9.8 | Mobile Homeowners Wind Only (CA) |
| 17-17409 | +7.1 | Mobile Homeowners (Dwelling Fire) (PLA) |
| 17-17410 | +10 | Mobile Homeowners (Dwelling Fire) Wind Only (CA) |
| 17-18043 | +4.8 | Commercial Property Residential Multi-Peril (Condo Assn.) (CLA) |
| 17-18044 | +4.7 | Commercial Property Residential Multi-Peril (Ex. Condo Assn.) (CLA) |
| 17-18234 | +8.1 | Commercial Property Non-Residential Multi-Peril (CLA) |
There are no proposed rate changes for Sinkhole coverage and the requested rate changes in the chart above are not uniform. The effective date of the proposed rate change for all accounts is February 1, 2018, for new and renewal business.
OIR said the general public can submit comments about Citizens’ proposed rate filings by sending an email to: ratehearings@floir.com with “Citizens” in the subject line of the email. Comments will be accepted for consideration on rate filings until 5:00 p.m. EST on Aug. 31, 2017.
The hearing will be held at 4:00 pm at Kovens Conference Center, Bayview Ballroom South, Room 214A at the Florida International University Biscayne Bay Campus located at 3000 N.E. 151st Street, North Miami. The Florida Channel will also stream the hearing live online via its website and a link to a video recording of the hearing will be available at a later date.
Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Topics Florida Property Homeowners
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