Are Florida insurers changing policies without insureds knowing?

In the current legal climate, Florida courts have been reluctant to address the deficiencies of this statute or to comply with common law notice requirements. (Credit: Bits and Splits/AdobeStock)

The Florida insurance market is facing a growing crisis, driven by a combination of judicial reluctance and insurance companies’ tactics that undermine the intent of consumer protection laws. While the state’s regulations allegedly aim to protect policyholders, insurance companies are finding ways to technically comply with the laws, while still navigating around these protections, leaving the insured at a disadvantage.

One example of how insurers are finding roundabout ways to comply with the letter of the law while evading its true intent is by burying required change notices within large renewal policy packages, sometimes as many as 60- to 100-plus pages long, where the notice is hidden, for example, on the 10th page. The average policyholder, seeing that it’s a “renewal” package, would never think to review the entirety of the package to see the changes that were made to the policy by way of the notice of change in policy terms. Most would assume all they need to review is the renewal premium to see the cost of the renewal policy.