Dennis Norman Musings

By: Dennis Norman

State Farm Insurance Company (State Farm Florida), the state’s largest private property insurer, announced earlier this week filed plans to discontinue its Florida property insurance lines.

This is not good for Florida residents nor all the people around the country that own vacation homes, rentals, time-shares or have other real estate investments in Florida.

State Farm Insurance Company  said their action would not affect the availability of of auto, life or health insurance.  The lines of insurance coverage they plan to discontinue include homeowners, renters, condominium unit owners, personal liability,boats, personal articles as well as business property and liability insurance.

The State Farm Insurance Company website states “This is not an action we wanted to take, but one we must take given the realities of the Florida property insurance market.”  An apparent factor in this decision was the State of Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation disapproval on January 12th of a new rate plan filed by State Farm in July that called for an increase in statewide homeowners insurance rates by 47.1%.

State Farm’s plan to discontinue coverage requires regulatory review, and State Farm Florida indicated they will not be taking any action under the plan until they obtain such approval.  State Farm emphasized that it is submitting a two-year plan that seeks to limit disruptions for customers, and if approved, will allow them time to find coverage with other insurers.

In response to State Farm’s plan, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty issued the following statement:

“We will carefully review State Farm’s intended plans to ensure that they are in compliance with Florida law; and we will explore all legal options as well. ”  McCarty went on to say “I will do everything within my power to protect Florida consumers from unnecessary destabilization of the insurance market this might cause and to ensure that Florida consumers are protected and have access to insurance at rates that are not excessive or unfairly discriminatory.”