TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The governing board for the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will take at least another month before deciding whether to charge higher rates on new business than allowed by law.
Although existing Citizens policyholders are protected from large premium increases by a 10 percent statutory cap, the insurer wanted to test what one member described Thursday as an ambiguity in the law to pursue higher rates on customers who contract with the company after Jan. 1, 2013.
Citizens interim President Tom Grady told the board that it must be more outspoken in making a case for charging actuarially sound premiums in exchange for the risk it accepts in its role as the insurer of last resort. Citizens has grown rapidly despite efforts to depopulate hundreds of thousands of policies.
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