Clear up confusion about Citizens Managed Repair Program
In July, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation will begin offering its customers the choice of a new program that will take the hassle out ofwater loss repairs while protecting them following a nonweatherwater loss.
Unfortunately, a recent opinion piece titled “Citizens to policyholders—‘Take it or leave it,’ ” by Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters president Don Phillips, contains errors and mischaracterizations about the CitizensManaged Repair Program that need to be addressed.
The two-stage program will provide Citizens policyholders with free water extraction and drying services following a nonweatherwater loss— broken pipe, a leakingwater heater— regardless of whether the underlying loss is covered. It’s a free service, pure and simple.
After thewater’s gone, Citizens has partnered with Contractor Connection to provide a network of licensed, qualified, and credentialed contractors to perform permanent repairs based on nationally recognized estimates and quality standards that ensure the damage is repaired to pre-loss condition. The repairs are guaranteed for a minimum of three years.
This is a voluntary program. Customers who choose not to participate have the option to hire their own contractor to do permanent repairs. If state regulators approve, however, reimbursement for such repairs would be limited to $10,000 starting in February 2018. This sub-limit would adequately cover three out of four policyholders who file a nonweather-relatedwater claim. Repairs made under themanaged repair programwould not be subject to such caps.
For the last several years, Citizens and other property insurers have been grappling with skyrocketing water losses, assignment of benefit abuse and runaway litigation that have forced higher premiums on our customers. Without statutory reforms including changes to Florida’s one-way attorney fee statute, many of our policyholders will be hit by these rate increases for years to come.
These new initiatives will allowus to be there for our customers when they need us most while helping to lower costs for all our policyholders and the people of Florida. The bottom line is that policyholders who call Citizens first after awater loss claim can be assured prompt, hasslefree emergency services at no cost, andwarrantied permanent repairs to quickly get them back on their feet.
Barry Gilway is president, CEO and executive director of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.