TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

State Farm Exit Is Focus Of Summit

ADVERTISEMENT

By RUSSELL RAY

rray@tampatrib.com

Published: February 24, 2009

TAMPA - State Farm's plan to drop 1.2 million policyholders in Florida will dominate discussions at a two-day summit on property insurance beginning Tuesday in Orlando.

Educators, insurance executives and former lawmakers will gather at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort for a series of panel discussions on the health of Florida's insurance market and the effect of State Farm's plan to exit the property insurance business in the state.
State regulators recently approved, with conditions, State Farm's plan to withdraw from Florida. Under that plan, State Farm would drop some 700,000 homeowners policies over a two-year period beginning in November.

During the summit, panelists will discuss the market's potential for absorbing all of the policies State Farm plans to cancel. The Florida Chamber of Commerce is hosting the summit.
State Farm announced in January that it plans to pull out of Florida's property insurance market. The insurer blamed regulators' rejection of its request to raise rates 47 percent on average statewide.

Meanwhile, Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation has launched a special section on its Web site for homeowners whose policies will be canceled by State Farm in the next three years.

The site, www.floir.com/statefarm docs.aspx, provides State Farm policyholders information on the insurer's plan to drop policies statewide.

The information includes a timeline for cancellation of policies, resources for obtaining alternative coverage, a list of the state's top home insurers, and several documents and statistics related to State Farm's plan to withdraw from the state.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT