{"id":68,"date":"2011-01-12T16:09:39","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T21:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefloridainsuranceblog.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2026-05-13T07:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:00:28","slug":"changes-certain-for-the-property-insurance-industry-in-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/2011\/changes-certain-for-the-property-insurance-industry-in-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes certain for the property insurance industry in 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill (SB 2044) that would have been the beginning of a potential fix for Florida\u2019s property insurance<\/a> debacle.\u00a0 However, the state will be ringing in the New Year with a new governor, which many believe will breathe new life into bills aimed at protecting insurance agencies and consumers.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s property insurance<\/a> industry is in crisis.\u00a0 While we have been extremely fortunate to not be hit by a hurricane for five consecutive years, our luck will eventually run out.\u00a0 This is the exact reason why the insurance industry and the government are looking for resolutions to protect everyone.<\/p>\n

\"Rick
Rick Scott & Charlie Christ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2011, the Republican-controlled Legislature will focus on proposing new bills that will be very similar in nature to SB 2044 and will mostly likely have the support of new Governor Rick Scott.<\/p>\n

Journalist Gary Fineout sums up a couple of the changes in a recent article in The Gainesville Sun<\/em> about the prospective bills. He writes, \u201cThe proposed changes would make it easier for insurers to set rate increases of up to 10 percent annually. They would also put a three-year limit on when property owners can file a claim from a hurricane and would change how much insurers have to pay out initially for structural damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-year limit on filing claims is credited to the public adjuster industry, which acts as an advocate for the policyholder.\u00a0 Current legislation states that policyholders have five years to file a claim after a hurricane. Some critics believe that public adjusters are using this to convince homeowners<\/a> to file claims before the deadline.\u00a0 The numbers show that last year, roughly $700 million in claims were filed from the 2005 hurricane season. (Peltier, Naples News<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

What concerns the insurance industry<\/a> is that while insurance rates<\/a> remain the same, payouts from 2005 are still being dished out. When you combine that with five-straight inactive hurricane seasons in Florida, you can begin to see the need to increase premiums.\u00a0 Insurance companies<\/a> have only so many financial resources in the event of a major disaster.<\/p>\n

The struggle is to determine a compromise between what will support the insurance industry<\/a>\u2014and ultimately the consumers\u2014and what policyholders can afford in a recovering economy. There are no definitive answers, but it is certain that 2011 will bring changes to the property insurance industry in Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dustyn Shroff<\/a> is the vice president of GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a>. Contact him for questions and comments<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Gary Fineout. (2010, December 5). GOP plans changes to help insurers who could increase rates up to ten percent annually. The Gainesville Sun<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.gainesville.com\/article\/20101205\/ARTICLES\/101209712\/1109\/sports?Title=GOP-plans-changes-to-help-insurers-<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michael Peltier. (2010, December 5). Peltier column: Insurance matters likely to return. Naples News<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.naplesnews.com\/news\/2010\/dec\/05\/peltier-column-insurance-matters-likely-return\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill (SB 2044) that would have been the beginning of a potential fix for Florida\u2019s property insurance debacle. However, the state will be ringing in the New Year with a new governor, which many believe will breathe new life into bills aimed at protecting insurance agencies and consumers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-68","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-florida-insurance-industry","7":"category-homeowners-insurance"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14429,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/14429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}