According to notices published in the Florida Administrative Register on Tuesday, First Floridian is requesting an overall 22.9 percent increase for homeowners "multi-peril" policies, Kin Interinsurance is requesting an overall 25.1 percent increase, and the Farm Bureau companies are requesting an overall 48.7 percent increase. According to one of the notices, the Farm Bureau companies are also requesting approval for a 31.7 percent increase in what are known as "dwelling fire" policies.
The hearings will take place less than a week before the start of a special legislative session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis to address widespread problems in the insurance market on May 23. During the session, key issues could include attempting to assist companies in obtaining reinsurance, which is backup coverage that is critical for Florida carriers.
Since February, three Florida property insurers have declared insolvency: Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co., and St. Johns Insurance Co.
Meanwhile, policies have flooded into the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which was established as a last-resort insurer. Citizens surpassed 850, 000 policies last week and are expected to reach 1 million by the end of the year, according to officials.
Insurance regulators are also considering a plan that will have an impact on the future of FedNat Holding Co., which includes subsidiaries FedNat Insurance Co. and Monarch National Insurance Co. and had approximately 152, 000 policies in Florida as of March 31. According to a federal Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday, the holding company submitted the plan to regulators after rating agency Demotech downgraded FedNat Insurance last month. FedNat is leaving other states as part of its strategy and focusing on Florida, where its March policy count was down 23 percent from a year ago and where it has had large rate increases in recent years.
"FedNat has submitted a proposed action plan to the OIR (Office of Insurance Regulation), which, if approved by them and regulators in other impacted states, would be expected to result in the company becoming much smaller, with significantly fewer policies in force, and potentially result in additional capital coming into the holding company or into our insurance carriers," FedNat CEO Michael Braun said in a filing. "The proposed action plan, if approved, would allow the company to obtain excess-of-loss reinsurance on a smaller, Florida-only book of business. The OIR is currently reviewing our action plan, and we will provide an update when the results are available."