Florida Department of Insurance
National Association of Insurance Commisioner’s
Home Insurance Rates News Release: 1/17/2005
Category: Home Insurance Rate Enforcement
Washington, DC – A federal judge today ruled in favor of the
National Association of Insurance Commisioners and its efforts to recoup more than $100 million for home insurance consumers nation wide, an amount which the agency contends that a select few insurance companies may have overcharged home insurance consumers by inflating
Florida home insurance prices and
Florida home insurance
quotes.
The federal judicial panel and courts actions allows the NAIC to help reduce
Florida home insurance
rates. The objective of NAIC staff throughout this action has been to provide home insurance rate relief for home insurance consumer policyholders who have been charged excessive home insurance rates.
NAIC staff, using authority granted by the federal judicial panel’s decision, ordered home insurance companies to reduce its home owners rates by 12 percent in September 2004.
Florida home insurance companies appealed the reduction in district court, claiming that the they had been denied due process in ordering the rate reduction.
“NAIC staff’s latest action, based on a different law was designed to address the court’s concerns regarding due process,” said NAIC’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy. “Despite the insurance companies objections, the courts have allowed the debate based on the facts to move forward. In the end we believe the facts will show that their rates can be reduced.”
NAIC staff contends that home insurance companies have been overcharging its policyholders since June 11, 2003, the effective date of Senate Bill 14. NAIC is seeking a refund of the excessive premium plus 10 percent interest. The total amount will be calculated from June 11, 2003, to present.
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Florida Facts - Ponce de León, seeking the mythical “Fountain of Youth,” discovered and named Florida, claiming it for Spain, until Spain sold it to the United States in 1819. Florida's history in the early 19th century was marked by wars with the Seminole Indians, which did not end until 1842. Florida's economy rests on a solid base of tourism, manufacturing, and agriculture. Leading the manufacturing sector are electrical equipment and electronics, printing and publishing, transportation equipment, food processing, and machinery. Oranges, grapefruit, and other citrus fruits lead Florida's agricultural products list, followed by potatoes, melons, strawberries, sugar cane, peanuts, dairy products, and cattle.
Major tourist attractions are Miami Beach, Palm Beach, St. Augustine (founded in 1565, thus the oldest permanent city in the U.S.), Daytona Beach, and Fort Lauderdale on the East Coast; Sarasota, Tampa, and St. Petersburg on the West Coast; and Key West off the southern tip of Florida. The Orlando area, where Disney World is located on a 27,000-acre site, is Florida's most popular tourist destination. Also drawing many visitors are the NASA Kennedy Space Center's Spaceport USA, Everglades National Park, and the Epcot Center. Sunshine State From the Spanish, meaning, “feast of flowers” (Easter)
The ten largest cities in Florida are: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Hollywood, and Pembroke Pines.
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