Florida House speaker launching investigation into insurance profits

Florida leaders want to probe insurance profits

FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez has a look at a report obtained by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times showing that property insurance providers may have misled lawmakers into thinking they were struggling financially. Now, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez is calling for an investigation.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez says he wants hearings in Tallahassee after a report found that property insurance providers may have misled lawmakers into thinking they were struggling financially.

What does the insurance report show?

Big picture view:

The report is from March 2022, but was not made public until the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times recently obtained it through a public records request.

Documents show that insurance companies in Florida justified massive premium increases for policyholders as necessary to cover losses from major storms, including Hurricanes Irma and Michael. Between 2017 and 2019, the insurers in the study showed a net loss of about $432 million, while their affiliate companies showed a net income of $1.8 billion.

At the same time, executives reportedly distributed about $680 million in dividends to shareholders and diverted billions more to affiliates.

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Dig deeper:

Money-shifting is not necessarily illegal for insurers, but the report found that the huge amounts removed from companies by executives violated state regulations.

As a result, Florida insurers were weakened to the point where they didn't have the necessary funds to pay claims to policyholders, which contributed to the state's insurance crisis.

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What they're saying:

House Speaker Perez (R-Miami) said Tuesday that the Insurance & Banking Subcommittee is looking into the report, and members will be allowed to issue subpoenas, interview witnesses under oath and hire experts.

"I'm not an insurance expert, but I think the people of Florida should have the ability to look into it and read it themselves," Perez said. "And the committee members should have, and I should have, the ability to dive deep into it and ask more detailed questions. We're looking at it right now from a 50,000-foot view. I think it's better for our members to have the opportunity to ask those questions on a one-on-one basis and go from there."

Pictured: Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez.

Some state lawmakers are also suggesting that Florida's attorney general should look into the matter further, in addition to the subcommittee.

The Office of Insurance Regulation responded to questions about the report, claiming that it was a draft and never finalized, which is why state lawmakers never saw it.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez.

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