Citizens Trims Proposed Insurance Rate Increase
In Pasco, Hernando
By RANDY DIAMOND
Published September 30, 2006
TAMPA - Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has
moderated its rate increases for Pasco and Hernando counties, but residents
still can expect to pay almost one-third more for their coverage.
The state-supported insurer of last resort
proposes new premium increases of 30 percent to 38 percent for homes in the two
counties, filings obtained Friday by The Tampa Tribune show. The insurer
originally proposed rate increases for those counties that started at 52 percent
and ended at more than 100 percent.
Although reduced, the new rate increases may
bring little relief for homeowners who say that Citizens' rates already are
unaffordable. Premium increases in those two counties during the past two years
have doubled and tripled rates.
The filing still needs formal state approval
by the Office of Insurance Regulation, which ordered Citizens in May to reduce
its average statewide rate increase from 60 percent to 40 percent in coastal
areas and from 27 percent to 25 percent in non-coastal areas. The rates are set
to go into effect Jan. 1.
Citizens officials say they hope to offer
relief for residents in March by offering policies without sinkhole coverage in
exchange for rate drops of as much as 43 percent in Pasco County and 32 percent
in Hernando County. The plan, which Citizens officials filed Friday with state
insurance regulators, needs formal approval from the insurance officials. The
insurer has been inundated with sinkhole claims, many of which they deem
frivolous. Citizens would not offer the scaled-back coverage to all homeowners.
It proposes that coastal policyholders in its high-risk plan still carry
sinkhole coverage.
Reporter Randy Diamond can be reached at
813-259-8144 or
rdiamond@tampatrib.com
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