Staying vigilant on insurance
Insurance issues continue to plague Fort Myers Beach and we must remain vigilant. I see this first-hand as my wife and I have had to move five times since the storm because our condo building is still uninhabitable-primarily because of delayed insurance payments. Having served as the State Insurance Commissioner for Indiana before moving to Florida, I remain very concerned about how poorly many insurance companies have responded to legitimate claims from Hurricane Ian. In my opinion, there has been systemic corruption by some insurance companies that continues to thwart not only the lives of our residents but our overall recovery as well.
I raised the issue again with the Florida CFO, Jimmy Patronis, at the ceremony for the one-year anniversary of hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach. As insurance is still primarily regulated at the state level, our regulators in Florida must continue to keep the pressure on the bad actors. I was told by the CFO and the state Insurance Commissioner at the FMB Insurance Village in April that various market conduct exams have been launched against some of the insurance companies who have received significant complaints after Ian from policyholders.
A market conduct exam is an independent audit done by a third party to examine the claims paying practices of the company in question and the costs of the audit are borne by the insurance company. If the market conduct exam finds the company is guilty, the regulator can impose fines and or pressure the company to pay the outstanding claims.
While fines are nice for the state coffers, it would be much better if the regulator pressured the company in question to pay all outstanding legitimate claims or at a minimum pay any undisputed claims. This would help our residents and benefit our island’s recovery significantly. I raised the point this week while speaking with the Florida State Insurance Commissioner, Mike Yaworsky, and he informed me that some market conduct exams should soon be wrapping up and more are about to be launched. Look for a public announcement very soon. He asked that I remind folks to keep filing complaints against their insurance company if there are still problems or to share your experience with your insurance company good or bad. This data helps the regulator determine which problem companies to target with outside audits.
You can file a complaint by calling the Insurance Consumer Helpline at 1-877-MY-FL-CFO (693-5236) or do so online at MyFloridaCFO.com.
I also had the chance to speak this week with Justin Michaels from the Weather Channel who is working on a story about the impact of insurance claims going unpaid. The concern I raised with him is that roughly 20 % of the population is going bare (without property insurance). This is due in part to the rising premiums which average around $6000 per year in Florida but that number is much higher on Fort Myers Beach.
I believe many people in Southwest Florida are going without insurance based upon the bad experience folks have had post Ian with their insurer. If you have a mortgage, you may not be able to choose this option. Some folks, however, with the means and the discipline are setting aside the premiums they otherwise would have paid to a company into their own emergency insurance fund.
This strategy is risky for the first few years but after a while, one may be able to build up a sizable emergency fund considering there is no deductible and no one delaying or denying your claim when you have a problem.
It is sad it has come to this but my advice is continue to fight. I will work to keep this issue front and center with state regulators. If you still have unpaid or insufficiently paid claims, I encourage you to file a complaint with the state regulator, hire a public adjuster or an attorney and just be diligent in staying on your insurance company to pressure them to do the right thing. Some companies are hoping you will give up-please keep fighting!
Jim Atterholt is the vice mayor of Fort Myers Beach