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) beneath David Altmaier had a accomplished, paid-for, red-flag-waving report about insurer affiliate transactions displaying tons of of thousands and thousands of hidden income for the insurance coverage {industry} — and easily selected to disregard it.
Jan Moenck, the knowledgeable from Threat & Regulatory Consulting who authored the “draft” Insurer Affiliate Research, testified beneath oath that the report was full. She made clear that the “draft” label was a typical placeholder so OIR might request minor edits, however in her skilled opinion, her findings and suggestions have been last. Moenck mentioned she adopted up a number of instances with OIR after delivering the report however obtained no request for modifications, no request for additional work, and — most tellingly — no additional communication. OIR paid her invoice in full. That was the top of it.
The outcome? Legislators, who spent the 2 years debating the necessity for enormous insurance coverage reforms, have been saved fully in the dead of night a couple of research that would have modified the complete dialog.
One legislator flatly mentioned that the OIR lied to them within the final listening to. And let’s be clear: the accountability sits squarely on former Insurance coverage Commissioner David Altmaier’s shoulders. Altmaier, who left the submit in 2022 to grow 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 prime insurance coverage regulator had a professionally ready report hinting at income 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 most effective forensic accountants out there to audit the affiliated firm transactions themselves. As an alternative of trusting the OIR, the Florida Home of Representatives is now doing the job insurance coverage regulators did not do.
Which means 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, the investigative journalist who uncovered the report via a freedom of data request and broke the story in his article, Florida Regulators Didn’t Comply with Up on Insurance coverage Income Research, Creator Says, believes this investigation goes to have main implications for a way Florida regulates property insurers transferring 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 alternative” however to cross insurance coverage industry-friendly reforms — the insurance coverage debate and laws in Florida might need appeared 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 duplicate of the transcript so you may see precisely what former insurance coverage commissioner David Altmaier mentioned 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
