Hartford Turned Down On Fla. Rate Hikes

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced today that he has denied property insurance rate hike requests from The Hartford Financial Services Group that ranged from nearly 30 percent to more than 226 percent.

According to the commissioner, the filings submitted were not actuarially justified and lacked supporting information.

Mr. McCarty's announcement said his Office of Insurance Regulation has sent Notices of Intent to deny the rate filings, because the proposed rate increase was not commensurate with the savings obtained when the legislature made low-cost reinsurance available to carriers through the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

The filings related to savings from reinsurance are referred to as true-up filings. The deadline for all insurers' true-up filings is Sept. 30. Mr. McCarty's office will continue to review each one to ensure they are complete and reflect the policyholder savings ordered by the legislature, the announcement said.

Hartford had requested a statewide average rate increase of 29.5 percent for its homeowners business, a 46.4 percent rate increase for its AARP homeowners program, a 50.5 percent rate increase for its dwelling fire business, a 100 percent increase for its AARP dwelling fire program, a 146.3 percent rate increase for apartment building coverage under its Spectrum program, a 210.8 percent rate increase for apartment building coverage under its Property Choice program, a 121.7 percent rate increase for condominium building coverage under its Spectrum program, and a 225.9 percent increase for condominium building coverage under its Property Choice program.

"I am committed to ensuring that insurance companies doing business in Florida are offering policyholders the best rates possible," said Mr. McCarty. "The rates proposed by The Hartford are not in line with this objective."

The decision to deny the rate increases followed an Aug. 16 public hearing in which the office questioned various aspects of the rate filings.

A spokesman for Mr. McCarty, Jonathon Kees, said The Hartford and other insurers that have had rate requests rejected can seek an administrative hearing or amend their filings and resubmit them. He said a number of insurers have withdrawn rate increase requests and others have been denied.

In response to Commissioner McCarty's action The Hartford said it is reviewing it to determine the company's next steps. "We believe that our proposed changes are actuarially justified. The filings we submitted pass on to consumers all of the savings from the Temporary Increase in Catastrophe Limits legislation."

The commissioner has the authority to hold a public hearing to question a company about its filing pursuant to Florida law. A schedule of upcoming public rate hearings and the television schedule to see them are located on the office's Web site at http://www.floir.com/pcfr/RateHearings.htm.