MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Al Herrero takes pride in his Hollywood home, fixing it up over the last 7 years.
Imagine his surprise when the got the call that his insurance was dropping him.
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“My insurance agent called me to let me know that FedNat was canceling 68,000 policies in the state of Florida and I was one of them effective June 30th,” he said.
Al has just a month and a half to find a new policy. “I suspect it’s going to be between $6,000 and $8,000 a year. More than double in the last 7 years,” he figures.
Governor Ron DeSantis, talking about the upcoming special session to address the troubled insurance industry. “It will be a significant package and we’re not going to accept anything less,” the governor said.
He said to expect something big, but he didn’t give details.
“I think that this will be the most significant reforms that we’ve seen in Florida property insurance market in decades and this is a problem that’s s festered from a long long time,” Governor DeSantis said.
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Steve Brooks owns Cornerstone Insurance. “It’s not a matter of if, they really do need to change,” Brooks said.
He thinks the needed reforms include tort reform, there should be a roofing deductible, and shoring up the catastrophe fund, but the biggest issue he sees is tort reform.
“What’s driving the prices here in our property market is the fact that there are so many frivolous lawsuits against the carriers that are being brought on in so many different capacities,” he said.
For Al, it’s all about the bottom line. “What are your hopes and dreams for that session?” CBS 4’s Ted Scouten asked.
“Well, that rates go down. I don’t know how realistic that will be, but at least that they stop going up as aggressively as they’ve been going up,” Al said.
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The special session begins on Monday, May 23rd. There may be other issues added to the agenda. It’s still up in the air if condo reform after the Surfside disaster will be addressed.
