13 hours ago
Insurance reform fizzles in Florida. ‘We didn't see as much happen as we'd like'
Florida's legislative leaders ushered in this year's session vowing to investigate insurance company profits and holding the industry accountable if it wasn't paying claims.
A House committee held rare hearings to grill the state's current and former insurance regulators. Republicans and regulators proposed several pro-consumer bills.
But 105 days later, it didn't amount to much. After one of the longest and most contentious sessions in memory, lawmakers left Tallahassee late Monday night without taking significant action to reduce premiums or increase scrutiny on the insurance industry.
'We didn't see as much happen as we'd like,' said Rep. Brad Yeager, the New Port Richey Republican who leads the House's insurance committee.
Lawmakers are promising more action in the next session. Committees are scheduled to begin meeting again in October.
They did devote $280 million to renew the popular My Safe Florida Home program, which awards $10,000 grants to help homeowners harden their homes. But lawmakers limited future eligibility to homeowners with low or moderate incomes.
Legislative leaders began the session by talking tough about reining in the industry, receiving standing ovations in the House and Senate.
Miami Republican House Speaker Daniel Perez ordered hearings into a never-before-seen study by Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation revealed by the Herald/Times weeks before the session.
The study showed that at the start of the state's insurance crisis, insurers claimed to lose millions of dollars while their affiliate companies made billions. The study was never shared with lawmakers until the Herald/Times reported on it.
Yeager's committee held two hearings during which regulators said the study 'raised red flags.' But they said the report wasn't shared with lawmakers because it was never completed. The author of the report, a government contractor, testified that the report was finished but that regulators never followed up with her on it.
The hearings were the extent of the House's public investigation.
Lawmakers also did not propose spending money to duplicate the study or pass legislation to enhance regulators' oversight.
Yeager said the hearings 'validated our concerns' about companies shifting profits, but said there were outstanding questions about the data underlying the report. He said the House is considering hiring a forensic accountant this summer to analyze the full dataset, which was turned over to his committee.
'We're not done. This was not a one-session project,' he said.
Insurance executives in Florida have earned incredible paydays over the years by shifting premiums to affiliate companies and away from the eyes of state regulators. Late in the session, the trade publication Insurance Journal revealed that the CEO of Tampa-based Slide Insurance and his wife earned $50.3 million in two years.
Perez said the House's work looking into profit-shifting would continue.
'I think it's disgusting,' he said of the compensation.
'Internally, we're having discussions on what we can do to look into that,' he said. 'It is something that we will address. It is not something that we are putting on the back burner.'
Legislators cited different reasons for why legislation stalled this year.
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat, said the session was distracted by Republican infighting, including over Hope Florida. The program created by Gov. Ron DeSantis to move people off government aid was investigated by House lawmakers during the session.
'I think that we lost momentum in terms of big policies and big ideas because so much had to be worked out between personalities,' Driskell said.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Spring Hill who leads the Senate's insurance committee, said legislation mostly failed because 'some were trying to undo the reforms that have stabilized our insurance market.'
Those reforms largely made it harder to sue insurance companies. Some Republicans, including Donald Trump, have been critical of those recent changes.
House lawmakers this session introduced bills that would have allowed homeowners to recoup their legal fees when they sue insurance companies.
DeSantis repeatedly railed against the idea, and the legislation failed.
'This would have led to increased costs and higher rates for everyone,' Ingoglia said.
