Alex Sink surfacing: blasts Citizens' 'sweetheart deal' and is sounding like a candidate

In an op-ed in today's Tampa Bay Times, former Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink details the reasons why she believes Citizens Property Insurance should reject what she calls a "sweetheart deal" with take-out company Heritage Property and Casualty.

And as Adam Smith reports today, Sink is not ruling out another run for governor -- but she's not quite ruling it in yet either.

In the editorial, she says "the recent Citizens Property Insurance deal with start-up insurance company Heritage Property and Casualty of St. Petersburg must be stopped immediately and thoroughly reviewed by our elected officials who appoint the Citizens board members. These officials include Gov. Rick Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz." More here. 

CFO Jeff Atwater tells insurers to stop whining, reduce PIP premiums

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said Thursday that it’s time for insurance companies to stop complaining and to lower premiums to reflect changes to the no-fault car insurance laws.

“I am comfortable that if assaults on the courts are unsuccessful and the bill can stand there will be more than 25 percent savings,” Atwater said. “We don’t have to gnash about it, argue about it, whine about it or cry about it.”

Under the old system, the average personal injury protection insurance claim is $12,900, Atwater said during a presentation at the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Insurance Summit. That included $4,400 in acupuncture, $3,700 for massage therapy, $3,200 to chiropractors and $1,600 for emergency room costs.

The new law, HB 119, restricts acupuncturists and massage therapists from participating in PIP and requires people injured in a car accident to be diagnosed with an emergency medical condition before they are eligible for the full $10,000 benefit.

“We just eliminated 68 percent of that cost,” Atwater told the group.

Read more here.

Average PIP savings under new car insurance law: 2.5 percent

On the last day of the legislative session this year, Florida lawmakers said they wanted guarantees from insurance companies that PIP premiums would go down by 10 percent in 2013. Right now, it's looking like the savings under the new no-fault car insurance law will be about one-fourth of that.

HB 119 required insurers to submit new rate filings by Oct. 1 that either reduced PIP premiums by 10 percent or explained why they could not. Most insurers chose option No. 2.

The state is still in the process of reviewing most of the 141 rate filings from 151 companies selling auto insurance in Florida, said Sandra Starnes, director of property and casualty product review at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. She was speaking during a session on PIP Reform at the Florida Chamber's Annual Insurance Summit.

The rate filings are all across the spectrum. Some companies said they would reduce PIP by as much as 25 percent while the biggest requested increase is 41 percent. The average, as of Nov. 16, is a 2.5 percent reduction in PIP, Starnes said.

As of this week, 64 rating filings have been approved.

Drivers who renew their auto policies after Jan. 1 will see their new HB 119-affected PIP rates reflected on their bills. That is also when many provisions of the new law take effect.