As environmental catastrophes, like storms and earthquakes, appear more frequent, the ability of consumers to protect themselves from significant financial losses is more paramount than ever. But as American consumers, as well as state and local governments, prepare to cope with climate change, things will soon be much more expensive for consumers, in part due to […]
insurance
Behind the Insurance Price Rise
Florida’s property insurance market is nearing collapse. This crisis is not caused by the billion-dollar storms that regularly hit the state but by unscrupulous attorneys who demand excessive legal fees to litigate claims in court. These legal actions have only homeowners in the Sunshine state facing double-digit premium rate increases on property insurance policies. Much […]
ACI Applauds Proposed Reforms To Florida’s Insurance Market
The Following is a Statement from ACI’s Policy Manager and Editor Edward Longe: “ACI praises the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee for advancing two bills that will provide much-needed reform to Florida’s insurance market. The State’s insurance market is currently facing a dual crisis of catastrophic storms and insurance fraud that are making policies unaffordable for […]
Citizens’ Rate Hike Could Stabilize Florida Insurance Market
Florida’s insurance market is in dire need of reform. In a recent state legislative committee meeting, Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier describes Florida’s insurance market as being unstable and unsustainable. Here’s why: While Citizens Property Insurance was intended to be only a “last resort” insurer for homeowners who could not get coverage from private insurers, the struggling […]
North Carolina Drivers Deserve Transparency and Competitive Prices
Several years back, the American Consumer Institute conducted a survey and found that 80% of North Carolina drivers would oppose any plan that to make good drivers pay more so that risky drivers could pay less. That is not surprising, considering better drivers tend to have fewer accidents and violations, making them less risky and […]
Economic Standard: The Need to Reform the National Flood Insurance Program
For years, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which maintains a near-monopoly over the flood insurance market in the U.S. and covers more than 5 million properties nationwide, has been drowning in red ink. Without significant reforms, it will only get worse. The NFIP, which is overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was […]
As Natural Disasters Become More Frequent, Mitigation is Critical
The federal government has been slow to adapt to the realities of climate change. Disaster management programs and policies designed a half-century ago are proving wholly inadequate for the challenges we face today — and those we know are coming. You can read this opinion piece in The Economic Standard.
COVID-19 Makes Hurricane Preparation More Urgent
2020 has been an undeniably tough year already, and the hurricane season is projected to make it even tougher for communities along America’s eastern coast. Up to six major hurricanes are predicted, rising from an average of three, between the start of June though the end of November. Against the backdrop of an economy in […]
Legal Theatrics and Florida’s Bad Faith Laws
Legal Theatrics and Florida’s Bad Faith Laws Florida’s “Bad Faith” laws applying to Insurance companies have created a shameful mockery of justice. Bad Faith laws were originally intended to make legal representation available to people with limited funds. There are two kinds of bad faith claims. Insured people may have a first-party bad faith claim […]
Florida’s Third-Party Bad Faith Lawsuits
In Florida’s current justice system, anyone who feels that an insurance company has caused an unfair settlement of a claim can seek restitution in court. Unless they were parties to the original policy (a contract), they must wait until there has been a verdict or settlement in the original case. If an insurer fails to […]