Farmer's Pulls Out of Florida

https://programbusiness.com/news/fl...ing-politics-with-exit-threatens-retaliation/

The state's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, went further, accusing the company of leaving Florida because its business was too focused on "sustainable insurance" and aligning investments with its social values, like avoiding investing in polluters or companies that sexually or racially discriminate against employees, a process known as environmental, social and governance investing that has become a recent political target for Republicans.

"The more we learn about Farmers Insurance the more it's clear its leadership doesn't know what they're doing. While they're bad at helping people, they're good at virtue signaling," Patronis wrote in a statement Tuesday. "It's clear that while Farmers was making plans to exit a significant number of policies out of Florida, they were playing politics, and weren't focused on running a successful company.

"I sincerely believe that with today's actions, Farmers Insurance is well on its way to becoming the Bud Light of insurance," he wrote

Patronis also announced his plan to look into the company's complaints, which could trigger a market investigation and — potentially — fines and fees.

"The Legislature did impactful work to help stabilize the market, and Farmers Insurance actions are less a representation of the Florida market – and more of bad leadership at the insurer," he wrote.

Farmers didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Patronis' comment.

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Democrats, on the other hand, were quick to point the finger directly at the Republican party, which has been in power for nearly two decades in Florida and shunned most Democrat-suggested policy fixes for the insurance crisis.

"We see Republicans trying to mince words… but they need to own this failure," Driskell told the press. "This is a crisis they created."

She called the recent Republican-led insurance reforms a giveaway to insurance companies of everything on their wish list, along with a "$3 billion handout" that helped insurance companies' bottom lines but has yet to relieve pressure for policyholders.

Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said rising insurance costs are the most common issue her constituents bring her way, even Republican voters in her district have expressed frustration at the still skyrocketing costs.

"We have Floridians who've never filed a claim and always paid their premiums on time, but they're being dropped," she said. "Floridians cannot afford Florida."


"I would argue that threatening an insurance company is not a good way to attract more insurance companies to Florida, which is what we need right now," she said.


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Lol wow... It sounds like no one wants to just face the reality of the situation. I bolded the only two comments that seem to make any sense from this whole pissing match.
 
I am not a P/C agent, but that coverage is part of my planning process. I refer a lot of P/C business as I address the topic with every client, and while I don't make specific recommendations, we discuss the coverage and its importance in detail (most common mistakes, blind-spots, etc., in the HNW/affluent marketplace). I just don't "refer" the client to someone, or "send them" to someone...I make the introduction and arrange the meeting, and I attend the meeting, and make sure that a thorough, comprehensive RMA (risk management assessment) is completed and that the results are reviewed and resolved if need be.

That said, I am also a consumer and a client as I own a home in FL and have a car there. My first home, I had one major claim due to a hurricane and got dropped the next year. My second home, I've never had a claim, and recently had my carrier drop the wind and hurricane coverage. Of course, the bank said find new coverage, or they would find it for me, or I had to pay off the mortgage (which would be very unfavorable because I have a 30 year fixed rate of 3% and the tax deduction is worth a lot to me). The first replacement coverage my P/C group found had a mid-six-digit deductible and a six-digit premium! LOL. Ultimately, they were able to secure custom-designed coverage -- with a high-deductible, an escrow fund, but a very reasonable premium. It is getting extremely hard to secure coverage in FL. It's an industry wide problem, and politics are playing a role in one way or several -- and not to the benefit of consumers. It's very easy for a company to leave FL, but we've also seen companies "walk away" from their blocks of business and claims as well. I believe one major carrier declared (their FL company/subsidiary) insolvency and tried to walk away from claims after Hurricane Andrew. While I don't know the details, what I did hear was horrible and borders on criminal type behavior (although I am sure it wasn't).

Another carrier -- whether a good one or bad one -- leaving FL is a very bad step in the wrong direction.
 
You're sending a dollar to the mortgage company so you can get 30 cents back from the government.

If that's the myopic way you look at it...and being that it's obvious there's no upside to the discussion...YES!!! That's exactly what I am doing! Thank you so very much for pointing that out to me! Have a nice day!
 
We debated keeping our condo before we moved to Portugal.
The insurance was one of the reasons we decided to sell.
We keep in touch with our old neighbors and were told that premiums have doubled for less coverage.
The insurance on the buildings has gone up so much that the association dues are going to double.
It is a bad situation all over.
 
We debated keeping our condo before we moved to Portugal.
The insurance was one of the reasons we decided to sell.
We keep in touch with our old neighbors and were told that premiums have doubled for less coverage.
The insurance on the buildings has gone up so much that the association dues are going to double.
It is a bad situation all over.

Absolutely. I've seen complete turmoil in FL (and CA to some extent). Carriers pulling out is the like the the first or one of the early dominoes falling.
 
You're sending a dollar to the mortgage company so you can get 30 cents back from the government.

$500k loan at 3% is $15k interest. For those relatively few that still itemize deductions & are in higher tax brackets, that $15k interest could generate $6k in deduction off of other income, bringing cost net loan cost down to $9k. $500k that can stay invested rather than pay off a mortgage only has to net 1.8% or better to cover the loan interest. Anything better than 1.8% is profit. So, even keeping the $500k in a bank CD or NQ MYGA at 5% is substantially better. Even me, a very debt averse person has to talk myself into keeping my mortgage as it is only 2.75% & I still itemize & relatively high tax bracket
 
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