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OIR to hold a hearing in Tampa on Citizens’ requested rate hikes

Posted Aug 12, 2011 by Catherine Whittenburg, Tallahassee bureau

Updated Aug 12, 2011 at 03:55 PM

The state Office of Insurance Regulation has just announced that it will hold a hearing in Tampa on the recent request by Citizens Property Insurance to raise its rates, including the proposed rate hike of more than 2,000 percent in some areas for optional sinkhole coverage.

Pasco County state Sen. Mike Fasano and Rep. John Legg had asked Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to hold hearings on the proposed rate increase in areas where residents would be most affected—especially in the Bay area, where sinkhole coverage rates would skyrocket, given the insurer’s history of heavy losses on sinkhole claims there.

The just-scheduled hearing in Tampa, OIR says, will take place Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at the Tampa Convention Center (Ballroom D).

Fasano, meanwhile, plans to lead a sign-waving protest against the rate hike on Aug. 16 in front of the Pasco County Government Center in New Port Richey. The senator was among the most vocal opponents this year of the legislation that has enabled Citizens to start charging actuarially sound rates for sinkhole coverage, pending OIR’s approval of the rate increase.

In a statement, Fasano thanked McCarty for scheduling the hearing and encouraged affected consumers to fill the room. “The Office of Insurance Regulation needs to hear from the consumers who will be impacted if the proposed rates are approved ... This is the time to put an end to what could be the most onerous premium increase in recent memory.”