Fla. Commissioner Inks Citizens' Order

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has signed an Order
approving Citizens' take-out plans for the year and requiring Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens) to notify policyholders whose agents have refused to allow their policies to be removed from Citizens. The plans also provide for the first take-outs of commercial-residential or condominium association policies. Under current Florida law, companies approved to remove policyholders from Citizens, known as take-out companies, must first get permission from the policyholder's agent. If the agent is unable or unwilling to transfer the Citizens' policy to the take-out company, the policy stays in Citizens. As a time-saving measure, Citizens notifies take-out companies of agencies that will not agree to take-outs. Because take-out companies have been instructed to avoid selecting policies from these agencies that do not consent to take-outs, the policyholders may never know that a take-out offer was received. Beginning May 1, the Order requires Citizens to send all qualified policies to take-out companies for selection without instructing them not to choose qualified policies from a list of agents and agencies that have refused in the past. If the agent refuses the take-out, Citizens must notify the policyholder of their agent's refusal and provide the take-out company's contact information should the policyholder wish to be removed from Citizens.

McCarty also announced that the Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has approved the plans of 10 insurance companies to remove policies from Citizens over the next year. Some of the companies already have begun removing policies, and others will begin in April. Taken as a whole, the approved plans will remove over 400,000 policies from the state-run insurance company and place them in the private market. Florida law allows Citizens' policyholders, to refuse the offer and stay in Citizens. All of the take-out companies have agreed to offer the same or better coverage than the policyholder had with Citizens, and at the same or lower price.

The 10 companies that have been approved to remove Citizens policies are:

• American Integrity Insurance Co. of Florida: 75,000 policies total; 34,812 removed to date.
• First Home Insurance Co.: 30,000 policies total; 10,788 removed to date.
• Landmark One Insurance Co.: 50,000 policies total; 10,995 removed to date.
• Florida Peninsula Insurance Co.: 80,000 policies total; 16,272 removed to date.
• HomeWise Preferred Insurance Co.: 62,000 policies total; 11,789 removed to date.
• Southern Oak Insurance Co.: 75,000 policies total; 6,678 removed to date.
• Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co.: 30,000 policies total; 9,548 removed to date.
• Northern Capital Insurance Co.: 20,000 policies total; 4,023 removed to date.
• Sunshine State Insurance Co.: 23,607 policies total; 4,412 removed to date.
• Argus Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. : 18,000 policies total.