April 16, 2024
Insurance
Flood Zone Option
Some flood insurance policyholders in Panama City, seeing their household budgets squeezed by the steady rise in premiums, now have another option.
Under the state's federally funded Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program, they can sell their homes at fair market value to the city.
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Published on 6/23/2023
Healthy Return on Investment
When store owner Eugene Debs died in 2006, patrons of the corner grocery his family operated in downtown Jacksonville for 90 years lined the streets for his funeral cortege. They did the same for his brother, Nicholas Debs, the last operator of the store, when he died five years later.
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Published on 4/1/2023
An Attack on Poverty
Florida's poverty rate is 13.1%, according to the U.S. Census. In the ZIP codes selected by Florida Blue parent company GuideWell for investments, poverty rates are as high as 32.1%. The Florida Chamber Foundation's Florida Scorecard reports nearly 800,000 Florida children (18.2%) live in poverty, a figure the chamber wants to see fall below 10% by 2030.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Overcoming Obstacles
Physician Kelli Tice needs only to look back one generation in her family to understand the devastation wrought by health inequities: Her grandmother died young from a preventable disease.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Building Healthier Communities One ZIP Code at a Time
Suzanne Pickett was caught by surprise at a baby shower she helped throw for Jacksonville residents in need of help last fall. The CEO of the Historic Eastside Community Development Corp. and other hosts had snacks and gift cards for about 40 new moms and mothers-to-be, and they crossed their fingers that so many would come. They were way off on the headcount.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Attorney Scot Strems is the 'poster child' of the insurance crisis
A year out of law school, Scot Strems left his job as a public defender in 2008 to hang out his shingle. His days had been spent in county court on traffic and misdemeanor cases. Strems figured once on his own, he would start in criminal defense work and eventually move into civil litigation.
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Published on 9/8/2022
The Case Against Scot Strems
South Florida attorney Scot Strems built his law firm suing insurance companies — and built the insurers' case for reining in lawyers.
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Published on 8/24/2022
As business screeched to a halt during pandemic, two entrepreneur brothers shifted from car sharing to insurance
As they were growing up, a career in technology was never in the picture for Matthew and Michael Vega-Sanz, 26-year-old twins now running one of Miami's hottest tech startups.
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Published on 5/12/2022
Infrastructure: Critical strategies Florida can implement as it grows
Florida is projected to gain 2.5 million new residents by 2030. Here's what that means for schools, roads, homes and other infrastructure needs
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Published on 3/8/2022
Florida property insurance is a sea of red ink
The Legislature passed a bill in its 2021 session making major changes in Florida's property insurance markets...
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Published on 5/26/2021
Florida hurricane season 2021: The good news and bad news
The good news: More than a quarter of Florida's homes have been built or remodeled according to the tougher statewide building codes...
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Published on 5/26/2021
U.N. panel casts doubt on dire hurricane season storm warnings
Hurricane season inevitably brings speculation on whether climate change is making the storm season worse.
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Published on 5/26/2021
Florida's Top 10 Property Insurers
Be sure to read Mike Vogel's coverage of Demotech's warning about Florida's homeowner issues.
10
Premiums Written: $352.9M | Market Share: 3.5%
9
Premiums Written: $372.4M | Market Share: 3.7%...
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Published on 3/23/2021
Ratings agency Demotech sends out a warning about Florida's homeowner insurers
Given how 2020 is unfolding, a significant warning early this year about the condition of Florida's homeowner insurance market understandably didn't get a lot of attention
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Published on 6/25/2020
Gulfstream Insurance Company, Sarasota
Gulfstream Insurance Company is pleased to announce it has appointed Ronald E. “Nate” Natherson, Jr. as President and CEO.
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Published on 5/22/2019
OIR Announces 2019 PPACA Individual Market Health Insurance Plan Rates
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced today that premiums for Florida individual major medical plans in compliance with the federal Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will increase an average of 5.2 percent beginning January 1, 2019.
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Published on 8/30/2018
Hurricane Irma Claims Data - as of August 13, 2018
This aggregate information is compiled from claims data filed by insurers. It has not been audited or independently verified and covers all claims based on filings received by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation as of August 13, 2018.
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Published on 8/24/2018
Clearsurance Reveals the Top 10 States with the Most and Least Happy Homeowners Insurance Policyholders
West Virginia triumphs as the happiest state according to its homeowners insurance policyholders with users from the state providing an average rating of 4.47 stars out of 5 for their insurance companies. At the other end of the scale, Florida homeowners insurance policyholders gave the lowest average rating of 4.03 stars.
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Published on 8/1/2018
Citizens releases 2019 rate package, including request for 7.9 percent increase
Today, the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation's Board of Governors will be asked to approve a 2019 rate package that reflects the impact of skyrocketing nonweather related water loss claims in South Florida, a troubling trend that appears to be spreading to other parts of the state.
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Published on 6/20/2018
Hurricane Irma Claims Data - as of June 12, 2018
This aggregate information is compiled from claims data filed by insurers. It has not been audited or independently verified and covers all claims based on filings received by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) as of June 12, 2018.
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Published on 6/15/2018
Additional Workers' Comp Cost Reductions for Florida Businesses
On Wednesday, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced additional workers' compensation cost reductions that will save carriers an estimated nearly $20 million in 2019, allowing carriers to help further alleviate costs on Florida businesses. These reductions are a direct result of the sound financial management of the Workers' Compensation Administration Trust Fund (WCATF) and the Special Disability Trust Fund (SDTF), two funds that workers' compensation carriers contribute to.
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Published on 6/14/2018
Florida Agents to Add Essential Hurricane Coverage
FAIA Offering Parametric Product to Eligible Members
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Published on 6/7/2018
SUNZ Holdings, LLC Acquires Risk Consulting Company
SUNZ Holdings announced that it has acquired Risk Management America, LLC (“RMA”), an innovative risk management organization focused on improving workplace safety through health and safety consulting and asset protection services.
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Published on 6/1/2018
OIR Approves Workers' Comp Insurance Rate Decrease
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced today that it has approved a rate decrease for workers' compensation insurance in Florida. The 1.8% decrease was filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) in a law-only filing resulting from the effects of the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
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Published on 5/1/2018
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety issues 'Rating of the States' report
In the 2018 edition of Rating the States from IBHS, Florida is ranked #1, but the report otherwise finds little progress in strengthening codes to ensure safety, community resilience
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Published on 4/18/2018
