Insurer vows audit after report finds it denied 77% of hurricane claims
A Florida insurance company is scrambling to explain why it denied 77% of claims after Hurricane Debby.
NOTUS reported in September that a significant number of insurance claims were denied. Months later, NOTUS said the company has scrambled to justify those denials.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation announced it would conduct an “independent audit” into the claim denials. After increased scrutiny, the denied claims fell from 77% to 74%. However, according to industry-wide data, it's still much larger than the average of 68%.
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That means that, on average, insurance companies deny 68% of residential property claims, and policyholders receive no payment.
Citizens CEO Tim Cerio told lawmakers that he hopes the audit will help bring back public trust, but he still believes the low approval rate is legitimate.
“To the 77% denial story that’s out there,” Cerio began, “Although I do stand behind the data I presented — our Citizens data that we’ve gathered — it is important to maintain public trust and confidence of our policyholders and stakeholders ..."
According to the company's spokesperson, Michael Peltier, that number is significantly higher than the real number. The company only closed claims "because of lack of coverage or because of flood damage are formally deemed 'denied,'" the report said.
Other denied claims fell under the policyholder's deductible or if the claim was withdrawn. Those aren't considered "denied."
Cerio told the Board of Governors that this calculation means they've only denied 13% of claims.
Insurance critic Martin Weiss, who runs an independent watchdog group, told NOTUS number is nothing more than fuzzy math.
“If I file a claim and I get a letter back saying your claim has been closed with no payment, whether they use the word denial or not, they’re denying my claim,” Weiss said. “We look at it from the perspective of the average consumer’s actual experience.”
Still, state lawmakers were furious.
“I’m not going to sit idly by if legitimate claims get denied while rates continue to rise. Period," said Republican state Sen. Ben Albritton.
“Floridians have been paying faithfully their insurance premiums for years, sometimes decades, and now they expect their insurance company to keep up its end of the bargain. I want to make sure that impacted Floridians and insurance companies hear me loudly and clearly — we are watching,” Albritton added.
Weiss warned last month that Florida insurers are "on the brink of collapse."