Yesterday’s testimony earlier than the Florida Home Insurance coverage & Banking Subcommittee ripped the duvet off a narrative that’s been brewing for years: the Workplace of Insurance coverage Regulation (OIR) below David Altmaier had a accomplished, paid-for, red-flag-waving report about insurer affiliate transactions displaying tons of of tens of millions of hidden earnings for the insurance coverage {industry} — and easily selected to disregard it.
Jan Moenck, the professional from Danger & Regulatory Consulting who authored the “draft” Insurer Affiliate Examine, testified below oath that the report was full. She made clear that the “draft” label was a normal placeholder so OIR may request minor edits, however in her skilled opinion, her findings and suggestions have been last. Moenck stated she adopted up a number of occasions with OIR after delivering the report however acquired no request for adjustments, no request for additional work, and — most tellingly — no additional communication. OIR paid her invoice in full. That was the tip of it.
The outcome? Legislators, who spent the 2 years debating the necessity for large insurance coverage reforms, have been stored utterly at midnight a couple of examine that would have modified all the dialog.
One legislator flatly stated that the OIR lied to them within the final listening to. And let’s be clear: the duty sits squarely on former Insurance coverage Commissioner David Altmaier’s shoulders. Altmaier, who left the publish in 2022 to turn out to be a lobbyist for insurance coverage firm pursuits, had the report sitting in his inbox whereas lawmakers scrambled to grasp skyrocketing premiums and insurer insolvencies. His successor, Michael Yaworsky, solely took over after Altmaier’s departure.
The political optics are brutal. Whereas owners misplaced protection and paid premiums via the nostril, Florida’s high insurance coverage regulator had a professionally ready report hinting at earnings being siphoned off via affiliate corporations, MGAs, TPAs, and reinsurers — and did nothing with it.
However immediately’s listening to didn’t simply finish with finger-pointing. Florida Home management promised motion: The Chair of the committee introduced that the Florida Home would rent the very best forensic accountants obtainable to audit the affiliated firm transactions themselves. As a substitute of trusting the OIR, the Florida Home of Representatives is now doing the job insurance coverage regulators did not do.
Meaning insurers, together with their captive MGAs, TPAs, and affiliated reinsurers, are about to get a full monetary examination — this time with public accountability.
Lawrence Mower was the investigative journalist who uncovered the report via a freedom of knowledge request. His article about yesterday’s listening to, Florida Regulators Didn’t Observe Up on Insurance coverage Income Examine, Creator Says, reported that this investigation goes to have main implications for a way Florida regulates property insurers shifting ahead. I agree.
If this report had seen the sunshine of day when it was accomplished — again when lawmakers have been instructed that they had “no selection” however to move insurance coverage industry-friendly reforms — the insurance coverage debate and laws in Florida may need regarded very completely different. It begs the query of whether or not Altmaier was already performing as a lobbyist for the insurance coverage {industry} earlier than he formally left his place as insurance coverage commissioner.
Keep tuned. This investigation is taking time. However the subsequent few chapters of this investigation promise to be much more explosive.
For individuals who didn’t see the final listening to, I’ve connected a replica of the transcript so you’ll be able to see precisely what former insurance coverage commissioner David Altmaier stated in regards to the buried report.
Thought For The Day
“It’s not the crime that will get you—it’s the cover-up.”
– Richard Nixon
