Market Insights

A rate hike for Florida's largest property insurance carrier is expected to take effect early next year, but there is already talk the anticipated rate hike may be insufficient to keep Citizens Property Insurance Corp. afloat in the wake of a big storm.

The number of licensed public adjusters in Florida increased from about 400 to over 2,500 as eight successive hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 hit the state and homeowners' claims abounded.

Along with heading up the financial services and employee benefit department of the long-standing Plastridge Insurance Agency in Southeast Florida, Julian Lago is current president of the Florida Association of Health Underwriters (FAHU).

Insurance carriers and agents alike are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Every organization is looking for ways to do more with less, but we cannot lose sight of customer retention and the search for new business.

Asked recently to list some of the biggest factors behind rising insurance costs, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty named the usual suspects, including the rising price of reinsurance and the overall economic downturn.

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