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Insurance regulators struggle to explain why stunning 2022 report wasn’t made public

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Florida lawmakers peppered the state’s sitting and former insurance commissioners for three hours on Friday to demand answers about why they didn’t bring immediate attention to a 2022 report detailing money transfers from Florida insurers to out-of-state affiliates.

At the time, Florida property insurers were pleading for legislative reforms because of liabilities from major storms and excessive litigation. Nevertheless, they were paying billions of dollars to affiliated companies, the document found.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) commissioned the report, prepared by Risk and Regulatory Consulting, in 2020 and it was published in March 2022, several months before a special legislative session made it harder to sue insurance companies.

House Speaker Daniel Perez called Friday’s meeting of the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee following a bombshell Tampa Bay Times story about that report, which found that insurers who were claiming financial ruin after Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Michael in 2018 had paid $680 million in dividends to shareholders while simultaneously funneling billions to affiliated companies.

The report showed that 53 insurers reported a total of $61 million in net income, while their affiliates, known as MGAs (managing general agents), reported $14 billion in income.

Hillsborough County Republican Susan Valdes asked David Altmaier, who was insurance commissioner at the time the report was commissioned, whether he found the disclosure alarming.

“Red flags”
“It certainly raised some red flags, which is why it was important for us to determine whether or not this was accurate,” Altmaier said.

Lawmakers pressed Altmaier and his successor, Michael Yaworsky, about why the office never made the report public. Their response was that it was in draft form and not ready for general release.

“A draft is a very real thing to us, and it is an indication that it is not a completed product,” Yaworsky told the committee.

Under further questioning, Yaworsky mentioned discussions that concluded sometime later in 2022 between the OIR and Rise & Regulatory Consulting “to perfect the document.” He said he didn’t know the details, adding that his office was dealing with between six or seven companies at the time that had gone through insolvency, as well as investigating other insurance companies.

“I think it’s possible that they were simply overwhelmed,” he said.

Speaking under oath, Altmaier said the office had become aware of transfers with affiliated companies in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2021 that they were able to get legislation passed that specifically authorized them to investigate the affiliate payments.

“Even before we got this draft report, the office was very mindful that this allegation was out there. We were very mindful that we needed to increase our authority to answer these types of questions, not just for you but for your constituents and our consumers and all kinds of other stakeholders,” he said.

Altmaier wasn’t able to answer why, if he thought the report was so important, he didn’t follow up when the OIR received it in 2022.

“Hindsight being 20/20, there’s probably some opportunities where I could have poked a little bit to make sure that this work was continuing. But, as the commissioner said, we were dealing with a lot,” Altmaier said.

Pinellas County GOP Rep. Adam Anderson asked to what extent can excessive affiliate fees affect policyholders’ premiums?

“There is a factor in there that is fees that you pay to your affiliates,” Altmaier replied. “If that’s being done correctly, then that’s a reasonable fee to have in the rates. One of the reasons why this work was so important to us was, if this is being abused, then it can have detrimental impact on policyowner premiums. The challenge is, we didn’t fully answer that question during my tenure,” he said.

Yaworsky, who served as chief of staff to Altmaier between 2017 and 2021, was named Insurance Commissioner in early 2023. He said it wasn’t until late last year that he was even aware of the report.

That prompted several members of the committee to ask why he didn’t share the information from the report when appearing before lawmakers since then. They wanted to know whether the affiliate payments were directly responsible for the escalating property insurance rates that have become the single most important issue to Floridians, according to multiple polls taken over the last year.

Yaworsky pushed back, disputing that the transfers explain why some carriers have become insolvent or closed their businesses in Florida.

Insurers continue to blame excessive litigation 
“I think the problem at its crux with companies is pretty easy to demonstrate — that it was … due primarily to litigation, but also natural catastrophes and the cost of reinsurance,” he said. “The companies went broke because rates simply could not be raised fast enough to accommodate that, and the market did not exist to support that. There’s not a lot of evidence that MGA fees or affiliate entity fees were the proximate cause of any insolvency.”

Also at the center of the discussion was what is considered a “fair and reasonable” amount for those companies send to their associated groups. The state of Florida to this day does not have a defined standard in law about what is fair and reasonable.

The Tampa Bay Times made a public information request to see the report in 2022, yet did not receive it until late last year. Several committee members questioned what led to that delay. “There was so much going on in 2022 that this did not take the priority,” Yaworsky said. “That’s a plausible explanation for what happened here.”

Some lawmakers reacted with disgust.

“Our purpose here today is to find out if insurance companies have been allegedly ripping the citizens of Florida off. Why rates are so high? We want to find that out. And this report’s the state’s attempt at determining the answer to that,” said Palm Beach Republican Mike Caruso.

“Yet it’s still in draft form. It’s only seven pages long. It deals with data from 2017 to 2019. Today’s 2025. And I find it, as a legislator, that’s outrageous that we’re getting something that’s so antiquated and so full of flaws.”

Caruso and other lawmakers asked whether the office plans an updated report. That remains uncertain at this time, although committee chair Brad Yeager said after the meeting that he believed lawmakers would push to make that happen.

The report cost $150,000 and was paid for by a trust fund within the OIR, and not from taxpayer money.

The future
In his State of the State address last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaimed that the state’s homeowners’ insurance market is finally seeing some stability, noting 130,000 new private policies over the past year and that Florida had the lowest increase in rates of all 50 states.

However, the Tampa Bay Times reported earlier this week that the vast majority of the almost 1 million policyholders with state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will pay higher rates beginning on June 1. Known as the property insurer of last resort, it remains the largest in the state in terms of the number of policies written.

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Republished with permission of the Florida Phoenix


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David vs. Goliath battle lines drawn over retirement community reform bill

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A battle of David versus Goliath has emerged in response to a bill filed in the House and Senate which is supported by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

The bill (SB 1656) proposes amendments to Florida Statute 651 which are intended to reform the law that governs continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), especially provisions intended to give the OIR new tools to deal with CCRC bankruptcies.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky has gone on record criticizing a major continuing care provider association because some of its members have pressured retirement home residents to oppose provisions of the bill that are supported by Florida Life Care Residents Association (FLiCRA), the association made up of 13,000 residents of retirement communities across Florida.

The Commissioner communicated in writing to LeadingAge Southeast that he found the association was engaging in “unacceptable and unproductive behavior.”

Hank Keith, who is CEO of Westminster Communities of Florida, has also come under fire from Westminster retirement community residents across the state, after he wrote to residents personally several times urging them to launch a letter-writing campaign to urge legislators to oppose the OIR bill.

In his letters to residents Keith claimed that the OIR bill would lead to “significant increases in monthly costs” for residents and would “reduce charitable impact.”

FLiCRA Executive Director Bennett Napier says FLiCRA “supports specific provisions in the bills centered around new and improved definitions, additional financial transparency and protection of resident financial interests.”

“Like other stakeholders, FLiCRA wants to ensure the Florida CCRC marketplace is stable and able to grow to meet consumer demand.” Napier said. “We appreciate that a number of owner/operators of Florida CCRCs chose not to engage their residents in letter writing against the House and Senate bills that are likely to be amended during the committee process.”

Some Westminster residents believe their friends and neighbors may have been misled into signing the form letters that Westminster management provided to them.

One such resident is former Rep. Marjorie Turnbull, who lives at Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee. After receiving communication from Westminster that included a pitch from Keith criticizing the bill, sample letters, and contact information for legislators, Turnbull fired back a response asking Westminster to withdraw the request.

“I was perturbed by the email asking Westminster Oaks residents to contact their legislators regarding a bill that has not been explained to us in detail prior to this request,” Turnbull said. “Without more detailed information and a like statement from FLiCRA, which solicits resident input prior to taking a position, I would suggest that any resident, who sends such a letter to a legislator, may not be acting in his/her own best interest.”

“It would be wise (for Westminster) to retract the request until we receive more information,” she concluded.

It appears Westminster instructed managers at all 12 of its Florida CCRC locations to distribute the Keith communication to residents.

At the Sandhill Cove Senior Living Community in Palm City, local management took it a step further and made a presentation to the community at both the February and March “Cup of Joe” monthly gatherings.

Sandhill Cove resident Pete Morrisey said the presentations came without any advance notice. “At the end of the meetings they said there were form letters they could give to people,” Morrisey said.

Morrisey said he agrees with Turnbull that the tactics of Westminster and some other owner/operators surely led some residents to sign form letters without fully knowing what they were opposing.

The OIR bill is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on Monday.


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AOC raises a ruckus over two Florida Democrats in Congressional races use her material without permission

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Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, David Hogg, warned Democratic candidates to back off using unauthorized material.

Two Florida Democrats with long-shot campaigns for U.S. Congressional seats are taking heat from a national leader of the party for the unauthorized use of material in their advertisements.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC in political pop culture, is the U.S. Representative  for New York’s 14th Congressional District, is taking Gay Valimont and Josh Weil to task. Valimont is seeking Florida’s 1st Congressional District seat that was held by Matt Gaetz in the Panhandle until he resigned in November after President Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General. Gaetz resigned his Congressional seat but then withdrew his name from the nomination after he had resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives.

Weil is running for Florida’s 6th U.S. Congressional District in and surrounding the Space Coast and as recent as Friday his Republican competitor Randy Fine called for his arrest because one of his campaign workers was distributing campaign flyers on a stolen bicycle.  That congressional seat is up for a special election April 1 after Republican Michael Waltz vacated it to become National Security Advisor for Trump.

Ocasio-Cortez in a social media post on the X platform this weekend said neither Valimont or Weil had permission to take excerpts from the New York Democrat’s Instagram speech that lasted 92 minutes recorded in February. The two Florida Democrats were using Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram address to raise funds for their campaigns in the Sunshine State.

“Fyi this is being run as an ad without my consent. I’m not personally involved in any races right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an X post dated Saturday.

David Hogg, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee has gotten involved in the inner-party flap. Hogg, who is from Florida and one of the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland in 2018, said he has advised the Florida Democrats to back off.

“The campaign hasn’t been approving this type of content – it’s this consultant who’s running this without anyone’s consent,” Hogg said in an X post, adding he has sent a cease-and-desist order to the political fundraising consultants on the campaign.

Hogg singled out fundraising advisor Jackson McMillan for the unauthorized use of the the Ocasio-Cortez material.

“I’m done dealing with these a**holes and it’s time they start being called out. Everyone says f*** the consultants but won’t name names. Jackson is one of many,” Hogg said in his X post.

While Valimont is the up for the special election in April 1 for the vacant Gaetz seat, the favorite to win the seat is current Florida Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Patronis.


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Hospitality and culinary competition results in more than $1M in scholarships for Florida students

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Some 400 students from about 40 high schools from all over Florida this month competed in the ProStart Culinary Team Competition and the Hospitality & Tourism Management (HTM) competition that was organized by The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) Education Foundation.

While the competition was intense in the 24th annual event, it ended with the distribution in more than $1.6 million in scholarships to the students who received recognition for their efforts. The scholarships were offered from several institutions including the Culinary Institute of America, Culinary Institute of Virginia, Florida International University, Keiser University, Nicholls State University, University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality and Hillsborough Culinary Academies at Erwin Technical College.

“We are incredibly proud of the talent and dedication shown by these students during the 24th annual ProStart and HTM events,” said Laura Rumer, director of the FRLA Educational Foundation. “These competitions highlight their skills and passion for the industry. It’s inspiring to see so many receive scholarships and recognition for their hard work. Congratulations to all the winners, and we look forward to seeing them represent Florida at the national ProStart Invitational in Washington, D.C. this May.”

The overall winners for culinary competitions were Martin County High School from Stuart finishing first. Strawberry Crest High School from Dover came in second with Wekiva High School from Apopka coming in third. South Lake High School from Groveland and Fort Pierce Central High School tied for fourth and there was a tie for fifth between George Jenkins High School from Lakeland and Lyman High School from Longwood.

There were also awards issued for culinary, hospitality management, edible centerpiece, waiters relay competitions.

The overall winners for hospitality included Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland finishing first, Colonial High School from Orlando in second and Osceola High School from Kissimmee.

Other honors for hospitality also included hotel operations, hospitality project and a knowledge bowl.

“As the state’s top industry, hospitality is at the heart of Florida’s economy, and these high school students are its future,” said Carol Dover, president and CEO of the FRLA. “We are thrilled to support their growth through programs like ProStart and HTM, which provide them with the skills and opportunities needed to succeed in this dynamic field. With the largest ProStart program nationwide and the unique distinction of being the only state to host a statewide HTM contest, we remain committed to nurturing the next generation of industry leaders.”


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