Legislators are looking for answers to answers, as insurance companies demand losses – WFTV

Tallahasee, Florida-The Members of the Florida House Friday, began to bury questions about companies that send money to affiliated companies and shareholders while argued that the industry loses money.

During a three -hour hearing, the subcommittee for house insurance and banking transactions, Michael Yaworsky and former Commissioner David Altmaier was grilled by a report from 2022, which partially used detailed money to affiliated companies. According to a story of Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald, the hearing was carried out last month about the report, which was not made available to the legislator or publicly published.

Legislators said they should have received the report earlier, especially when legislation in a special meeting of 2022 passed significant changes to the increasers of the insurers. Yaworsky and Altmaier said that the report was a draft and a final version was not completed.

“Today we found out whether insurance companies supposedly demolished us and the citizens of Florida tore down why the tariffs are so high. We want to find out, ”said Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach. “And this report is the attempt by the state to determine the answer to it. Nevertheless, it is still in design form. There are only seven pages long. It is data from 2017 to 2019. Today 2025. And as a legislator, I find it outrageous that we get something that is so outdated and full of defects. “

Yaworsky, who became commissioner in February 2023, said he became aware of the report at the end of 2024. He said the supervisory authorities would create an updated report if the legislator wants this.

“I think we want it. I think we all scream afterwards. I look at the heads of all. And they let us know which resources they need and we will provide them, ”replied Caruso. “I know number one for the people in Florida, they want to answer why insurance tariffs are so high.”

The 2022 report, which was carried out by risk & regulatory consulting, LLC for state insurance regulation, 53 insurers involved and examined problems with such income, payments to affiliated companies and dividends of the shareholders.

If companies were excluded, which were referred to as “outliers”, the report said that companies have shown a total of $ 432 million from 2017 to 2019. However, the net result of the connected companies was 1.8 billion US dollars.

The discussion on Friday mainly focused on the so -called general agents associated with insurance companies. Insurers pay the Managing General Agents or MGAS to perform many daily tasks, e.g. B. guidelines and administrative claims.

Rep. Hillary Cassel, a Republican and lawyer of Dania Beach, who represents consumers in lawsuits against insurers, questioned how the supervisory authorities could receive the report and could not pursue any questions related to connected companies.

“The problem with the management of general agents and their affiliated companies has been in this state for a long time,” said Cassel.

Yaworsky said: “If you are an insurance commissioner and have no concern about perverse incentives that can exist in precautions, MGAS and partner transactions, you should not have the job. It's always in the head, together with a billion other things. “

Yaworsky said the state has strengthened the rules over the years in connection with surveillance. However, he also said that the use of MGAS by companies in investors had drawn to the risky insurance market, which he described as a “counter -deficiency balance”.

“The basic fact of our marketplace is that companies with which companies want to deal with nature naturally, of course, in particular, especially the companies that we want to participate most,” said Yawersky. “And this current structure is the structure that you create to get investors ready to bring capital into a company.”

Altmaier, who resigned as an insurance commissioner in December 2022, said he had discussions about the report on the job. But he and Yaworsky said it needed more work. Neither could give a specific answer to why the report was not pursued further.

“There were certainly some red flags, which is why it was important for us to determine whether this was exactly or not,” said Altmaier.

The report took place on the Florida insurance market during a turbulent period, in which the company dropped homeowners, increased tariffs and, in some cases, were insolvent due to financial problems. Legislators passed a major revision during the special meeting in 2022, which also included the support of shield insurers from costly lawsuits – a problem that blamed the industry for losses.

According to the history/herald history of the last month, the spokesman for House, Daniel Perez, R-Mami, the subcommittee for insurance and banking transactions, directed hearing hearings that could include the issuing of the preload and the inclusion of oath from witnesses. Altmaier, who is now working as an insurance consultant, said on Friday under oath.

Perez informed Florida's intelligence service this week that the report raised questions about the arguments of the insurers who have led to changes in the state law. During a recording of the “Dara Kam” podcast, Perez said that the representatives of the industries have informed the legislators that they “essentially close their doors and pull out of the state” without the changes.

“And now we believe that there is a potential that these screams were not real, that their winnings were higher than expected and possibly played a kind of Shell game,” said Perez. “Well, sometimes, when there is smoke, there is no fire and hopefully we find it. We want to believe that everyone is an honest broker, but we have a job to examine it. “

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, also said during a recording of the podcast that he would meet with Yaworsky next week to discuss the report. The podcast with Perez and Albritton will be released on Sunday.

“Sometimes things are exactly. Sometimes they are sometimes exactly, sometimes they are not exactly at all. We want to find out what the facts and the factual pattern actually say, ”said Albritton.

– The leading writer Dara Kam contributed to this report.

Click down our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News Live.

© 2025 Cox Media Group