Governor’s freeze order goes ignored

Regulators say approved rate hikes will take effect after Dec. 3

Gov. Rick Scott’s Sept. 12 directive to Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier after Hurricane Irma pummeled Florida could not have been more clear.

“Freeze any and all efforts to increase rates on policyholders for 90 days. Due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Irma, Floridians should be focused on getting back to their normal lives without their insurance premiums being increased.”

Altmaier’s response, in the form of an emergency order released more than 24 hours later, was loaded with industry jargon and citations from state law.

Altmaier’s order barred insurers from invoking, for 90 days between Sept. 4 and Dec. 3, a little-used rate-setting strategy called “use and file” that allows proposed rate hikes to take immediate effect prior to approval by the Office of Insurance Regulation.

The order did not explicitly prevent regulators from approving rate-hike proposals filed before the order was issued and scheduled to take effect during the Sept. 4-to-Dec. 3 emergency period.

And it did not prevent five rate hikes approved before the emergency order for customers of Privilege Underwriters, Southern Oak Insurance Co., Florida Farm Bureau Casualty, and Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest from taking effect during the emergency period. Those increases range from statewide averages of 1.1 percent to 9.9 percent.

Instead, the order included language suspending until Dec. 3 the normal 90-day window that insurers must wait for regulators to approve or reject proposed rate increases before considering them approved by default.

Spokeswoman Amy Bogner said the Office of Insur-