The FPCA prepared the following letter to the editor in response to an August 22, 2016 Miami Herald newspaper feature on South Florida’s largest homeowners insurers.

Dear Editor:

We applaud the Miami Herald’s efforts to educate its readers on the state’s home insurance market, but a recent article included inaccurate assessments of Florida-based insurers by Weiss Ratings. This company is not recognized as an approved ratings agency by either Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, because they don’t thoroughly analyze reinsurance or catastrophe modeling, two pieces critical to the Florida insurance puzzle.

The good news is that compared to 10 years ago, the number and financial strength of insurers operating in Florida have improved markedly. Insurers have passed the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s rigorous stress test, and now have combined capital and reinsurance to pay all claims resulting from three Hurricane Andrew-sized storms.

Finally, your feature touched on recently filed rate increases, but did not mention the main culprit, assignment of benefits lawsuits. Organized and carried out by unscrupulous vendors and their lawyers who insist on homeowners signing away their policy rights and benefits in times of emergency, these schemes have doubled and tripled cleanup and repair costs compared to a few years ago. This drives up rates for everyone, and must be addressed by the Florida Legislature.

As we approach the height of hurricane season, Florida homeowners can be confident their home insurers are financially strong and committed to serving their customers.

–William Stander, executive director of the Florida Property & Casualty Association (FPCA)