Volume 2 Number 11
March 14, 2005










TEXT VERSION

 

LETTERS FROM THE CFO ON HURRICANE CLAIM ISSUES

Following our first town hall meeting in Pensacola, where I heard from many storm victims frustrated with their insurance companies, I called for meetings with the executive officers of  Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company; Vanguard Fire and Casualty Insurance Company; Capital Preferred Insurance Company; First Protective Insurance Company; and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.  

I had the opportunity to meet with company executives face-to-face last week.  All of the insurer representatives committed that they will resolve their outstanding claims, will consistently and productively participate in scheduled mediations, and will be at all of the department’s town hall meetings to meet with their policyholders. 

I am encouraged by these commitments and plan to hold them accountable.  In addition, the Office of Insurance Regulation has confirmed that these companies are financially sound, which is good news.

Issues identified by the smaller insurance companies, including Capitol Preferred, First Protective and Vanguard, were the lack of adjusting resources and inadequate technology to handle the influx of calls and claims from multiple storms.

One solution I would like to see implemented by the Office of Insurance Regulation is a best practices checklist so new companies writing business in Florida have the computer and phone systems in place to ensure policyholders can readily obtain information on their claims, especially after a catastrophe.

I have also made some specific requests of the insurance companies I met with, including the claims handling practices of both Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

Finally, I am proposing a rule for consideration before the Governor and Cabinet that would impose a 30-day time limit for insurance companies to resolve outstanding claims and, if not resolved, then they must provide a detailed, written report explaining why each claim is not closed.

And I will continue to monitor the progress of Florida’s homeowners insurance companies to ensure that storm victims’ claims are handled fairly and expeditiously.

Okeechobee County's historic courthouse, built in 1925, sits next to the county's new state-of-the-art courthouse scheduled to open this spring.

CFO GALLAGHER ANNOUNCES ARRESTS OF 14 INDIVIDUALS IN PATIENT BROKERING, PIP FRAUD SCHEME 

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher announced the arrests of 14 individuals linked to seven medical facilities -- including a former sheriff’s deputy – on felony charges culminating from a two-year investigation into patient brokering.  The patients were sold to various medical clinics for up to $1,000 each for the purpose of billing insurance companies for tens of thousands of dollars.

“These patients were auctioned off like art, and Florida’s consumers get the bill,” said Gallagher, who oversees the Department of Financial Services and Division of Insurance Fraud, which led the investigations.  “The costs are very real – hundreds of dollars in additional costs each year on the backs of Florida’s families.” 
 

Auto insurance fraud is estimated to cost the average Florida family as much as $240 a year in higher premiums and costs for goods and services.   

The investigation was a joint endeavor among the Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office.   CONTINUED
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOWN HALL MEETING FOR CENTRAL FLORIDA     HURRICANE VICTIMS IN ORLANDO ON SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH
   

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher will hold a town hall meeting Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m.-noon in the Dr. Phillips High School auditorium for central Florida residents who may have continuing concerns with their insurance companies regarding hurricane damage claims and recovery. This town hall meeting is the fourth in a series that Gallagher is holding around the state.

Consumer specialists will be on hand to provide individual assistance to policyholders. For more information, interested consumers can contact 1-800-22-STORM.  

CFO Tom Gallagher Town Hall Meeting
9 a.m.-noon Saturday, March 19
Dr. Phillips High School Auditorium
6500 Turkey Lake Road, Orlando

 

COCOA BEACH MAN ARRESTED FOR FALSE        
HURRICANE CLAIM

A Brevard County homeowner is facing a felony charge of filing a false insurance claim for allegedly claiming that renovation work to his home was the result of hurricane damage.

Robert Milliken, 60, of 744 S. Orlando Ave. # 709, was arrested Tuesday by investigators with the Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud.  He was booked into the Brevard County Jail and, if convicted on the third-degree felony charge, faces up to five years in prison. 

“Thousands of Florida homeowners and business owners were devastated by the four hurricanes that hit our state last year,” said Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, who oversees the Department of Financial Services.  “This kind of fraud victimizes them all over again because everyone pays for insurance fraud.”
CONTINUED

 

 

 

SANTA ROSA COUNTY MAN CHARGED IN MULTIPLE ARSONS

A Santa Rosa County man confessed to setting a series of fires in the Magnolia Manor mobile home park. Since June of 2004, a series of arsons have occurred to several vehicles and mobile homes.  

William Norton, Jr., 46, of 1522 Magnolia Manor Drive, Lot B, a resident of the mobile home park, was booked into Escambia County Jail and was charged with nine counts of arson and two counts of attempted murder. CONTINUED
 

 

 

 

 

TALLAHASSEE MAN ARRESTED FOR THEFT OF STATE FUNDS

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher announced that a Tallahassee man suspected of diverting nearly $25,000 in public funds, from a program intended to teach teens how to drive safely, surrendered today to investigators with the Department of Financial Services, Office of Fiscal Integrity. 

“Fraudulent abuse of taxpayer dollars for personal gain is unconscionable,” said Gallagher, who oversees the Office of Fiscal Integrity. 

Paul Ester Burris, 54, President of Partners for Highway Safety Foundation, Inc (PHS), has been charged with grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, both second-degree felonies.  He was booked into the Leon County Jail and, if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison for each charge.  Burris has operated PHS, a youth-driver education organization, in Tallahassee since 1992.   
CONTINUED

 

 

 

 

 

GEORGIA JOINS MULTI-STATE INSURANCE PRODUCT FILING REVIEW PROJECT 

Momentum continues for the new multiple state insurance filing review project, Fast Track. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine signed onto the Fast Track program at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Annual Conference in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 14. The Fast Track Project was launched by Florida, Texas and California to ease differing regulatory mandates for insurers.

Fast Track conducts a coordinated filing review by all the states in the program and provides a simultaneous product approval. Therefore, insurance companies are able to make a filing in only one state for approval to market a product to 28% of the U.S. population residing in the four states. The Commissioner of the Office of Insurance Regulation Kevin McCarty welcomed the new interest in Fast Track saying, “This is further evidence that state based insurance regulation can reduce regulatory barriers while preserving consumer and solvency standards that would otherwise be threatened if state oversight were compromised.” CONTINUED