Homeowners group asks state to stop Citizens' annual rate hikes
Homeowners in the Florida Keys say they're tired of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. increasing their costs for hurricane insurance by nearly 10 percent each year since 2010.
On Thursday, a grass-roots homeowner organization asked the state Office of Insurance Regulation to put rate increases in Monroe County on hold for up to three years. They want experts to figure out whether Citizens should start basing its rates on a loss-projection computer model that recently started predicting lower windstorm damage costs there.
"These rates have brought us to the point of economic crisis," said Mel Montagne, president of Keys advocacy group Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe, or FIRM.
Montagne, who works as an insurance agent in the Keys, and fellow FIRM member Joel Walsh addressed state regulators during a public hearing Thursday over proposed 2017 rates for customers of Citizens, the state-run "insurer of last resort."
Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/deals-shopping/fl-citizens-rate-hearing-20160818-story.html