Alert Edition March 2025

Welcome to the March 2025 edition of the FORC Alert. If you have any colleagues that may be interested in this publication, please forward it on. There is a link on the Alerts main page where they can subscribe to receive FORC Alerts automatically.

Regards,
C. Ignacio Matos, Esq., FORC Alert Co-Editor
Ryan Smart, Esq., FORC Alert Co-Editor
LINKEDIN 
TO STAY UPDATED WITH FORC, PLEASE FOLLOW OUR LINKEDIN PAGE HERE.  
Data pager
Data pager
12
 Page 1 of 2, items 1 to 20 of 34.
Show all 34
Blurb
Data pager
Data pager
12
 Page 1 of 2, items 1 to 20 of 34.
Show all 34

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

FEMA Renews $757.8m of NFIP Flood Reinsurance for 2025, Gets Broader Market Participation 
Notably, the 2025 renewal of the NFIP’s traditional reinsurance program was backed by twenty-seven private reinsurance companies, whereas last year’s smaller $619.5 million renewal for 2024 was backed by only eighteen reinsurers. Click <a href="https://www.artemis.bm/news/fema-renews-757-8m-of-nfip-flood-reinsurance-for-2025-gets-broader-market-participation/" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

FEMA to Borrow $2B to Pay Flood Claims After Hurricanes Helene and Milton 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it needs to borrow $2 billion from the U.S. Treasury to cover claims from National Flood Insurance Program policyholders. FEMA, administrator of NFIP, said it expects to pay out more than $10 billion in flood claims related to hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 – as well as claims for other flooding events last year. Click <a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2025/02/13/811873.htm" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

NAIC Faces $6.6 Million Deficit As 2025 Budget Prioritizes Tech and Staffing 
The forecasted revenue represents a 6.2% increase over 2024, while the projected expenses continue a trend of operating with deficits, a practice the nonprofit group has managed in prior years. For example, the 2022 budget projected a deficit of $7.5 million. Click <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/naic-faces-6-6-million-deficit-as-2025-budget-prioritizes-tech-and-staffing-521649.aspx" target="_child">here </a> to read more

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

NFIP Hurricane Helene Loss Estimate Range Stretched Higher to Top-End of $7.4bn 
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) has updated its estimate for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses from hurricane Helene, stretching the top-end of the range to now as much as $7.4 billion. 
Click <a href="https://www.artemis.bm/news/nfip-hurricane-helene-loss-estimate-range-stretched-higher-to-top-end-of-7-4bn/#:~:text=Advisers%20Fund%20Index-,NFIP%20hurricane%20Helene%20loss%20estimate%20range%20stretched,top%2Dend%20of%20%247.4bn&text=The%20U.S.%20Federal%20Emergency%20Management,as%20much%20as%20%247.4%20billion." target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Record Cat Bond Issuance of $17.7bn 
The $4.5 billion fourth-quarter Catastrophe bond and related insurance-linked securities market issuance has taken the outstanding market to a record near $50 billion. This, from the just-published Artemis Q4 2024 Catastrophe Bond and related insurance-linked securities Market Report, which also reported the full-year 2024 total at a record $17.7 billion, from ninety-three transactions. Click <a href="https://www.royalgazette.com/reinsurance/business/article/20250105/record-cat-bond-issuance-of-17-7bn/" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

A Message from the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions 
The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI) has issued a message, available in SERFF, indicating that including equipment breakdown or other coverages that are statutorily defined as “service contracts” in a homeowners’ or personal auto insurance policy “is combining two disassociated coverages within the same policy without notice that the consumer is entering into two separate coverage contracts” and constitutes a violation of Arizona’s Unfair Practices Act.  DIFI’s message also directs filers to “withdraw any service contract or equipment breakdown coverages that may be included in any forms, rates or rules.”

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions Indicates it May Start Rejecting Certain Rate Filings 
The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI) has recently indicated that it may start rejecting rate filings that rely on or include insurance scoring or other modeling information provided by third parties which DIFI believes fit the definition of “Advisory Organizations” but are not registered as such with the State of Arizona. Historically, insurers have filed these models directly with DIFI as part of their rate filings, indicating a broadening in DIFI’s interpretation of the definition of “Advisory Organization.”

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

California FAIR Plan’s First Assessment in Over 30 Years 
The unprecedentedly destructive fires in the Los Angeles area in January are reported to have caused total property losses in the hundreds of billions, with insured losses reportedly estimated as high as $75 billion.   The California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (the “FAIR Plan”) has reported receiving approximately 5,000 claims and paying more than $1.2 billion to policyholders.  

The FAIR plan, established pursuant to Section 10090 et seq. of the California Insurance Code (the “CIC”), is an independent, not-for-profit catastrophe insurer, formed in joint association by insurance carriers licensed to write and engaged in writing basic property insurance in California.   Although intended to be an insurer of last resort, it has taken an outsized role in insuring residential and commercial properties in California that have been increasingly unable to obtain coverage on the admitted market.  Click <a href="https://www.forc.org/Public/About/News/Public/About/News.aspx?hkey=e4a7610b-ec9b-494a-8e13-598a25ee9e20" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

CFO Jimmy Patronis Appoints Frank White to the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Board of Governors 
Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced the appointment of Frank White of Pensacola to the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Board of Governors. The Florida Legislature created Citizens in August 2002 as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt government entity to provide property insurance to eligible Florida property owners unable to find insurance coverage in the private market. Click <a href="https://www.myfloridacfo.com/news/newsletter/past-issues/news-details/2025/02/10/cfo-jimmy-patronis-appoints-frank-white-to-the-citizens-property-insurance-corporation-board-of-governors" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

CFO Patronis Highlights Big Wins for Floridians and the Florida Department of Financial Services in 2024 
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis highlighted significant accomplishments of the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) in 2024, including helping thousands of hurricane victims get back on their feet, cracking down on insurance fraud that drives up rates, and returning hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed property to the pockets of Floridians.  Click <a href="https://myfloridacfo.com/news/pressreleases/press-release-details/2025/01/02/cfo-patronis-highlights-big-wins-for-floridians-and-the-fldfs-in-2024" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

DeSantis Asks for Over $600 Million to Lower Homeowners Insurance in 2025-26 Budget 
In the budget released Monday, about $590 million are earmarked for the My Safe Florida Home program, a “home-hardening” effort that pays for wind mitigation upgrades to help strengthen homes against storms and lower insurance premiums. Click <a href="https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2025-02-04/desantis-asks-600-million-lower-homeowners-insurance-budget" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Florida Assignment of Benefits Case ‘Milestone’ Decision of DeSantis Insurance Reform 
A Florida appeals court decision regarding a homeowner’s insurance assignment of benefits (AOB) lawsuit could have ramifications in the state’s auto insurance industry and affect how collision repairers represent their customers in the future. Click <a href="https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2025/01/16/florida-assignment-of-benefits-case-milestone-decision-of-desantis-insurance-reform/#:~:text=Insurance%20NewsNet%20reports%20that%20the,went%20into%20effect%20on%20Dec." target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Florida Court Makes Major Ruling on Insurance Market 
The decision upheld a reform introduced in Florida in 2023 in the form of Senate Bill 2-A, which prohibited the state's long-standing practice of assigning benefits to another party for those holding insurance policies issued after January 1 of that same year. Click <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/florida-court-makes-major-ruling-insurance-market-2010286" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Florida Court Rules Against ‘Direction to Pay’ Strategy in Roof Repair Claim 
The ruling is the latest in a series of decisions upholding the state’s assignment of benefits reform measures. Critics blame Florida’s sky-high property insurance rates on a lawsuit culture that flourished for years. Click <a href="https://insurancenewsnet.com/innarticle/florida-court-rules-against-direction-to-pay-strategy-in-roof-repair-claim" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Gov. DeSantis Hails ‘Stable Market’ in Once-Embattled Insurance Sector 
The Governor noted Citizens’ reduction in policies show a private market with a lot of competition. To that end, Florida had the lowest private premium increases in the nation in 2024, DeSantis said, in another good sign, with eleven new companies coming in in the last year. Click <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/719493-gov-desantis-stable-market/" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Potential Citizens Rate Hikes Trimmed 
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation trimmed proposed rate increases that Citizens submitted last year. Also, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that many Citizens customers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties will see decreases.  Click <a href="https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2025/02/07/potential-citizens-insurance-rate-hikes-trimmed/" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

11th Circuit Strikes Down FCC’s One-to-One TCPA Consent Requirement 
In <i>Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC</i>,WL 289152 (11th Cir. January 24, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations targeted at customer lead generators that were set to become effective on January 27, 2025. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), sellers and telemarketers are prohibited from making certain types of telemarketing calls using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or artificial or prerecorded voice messages without “prior express written consent” from called persons.  The FCC objected to lead generators using a single webform to obtain prior express written consent for a list of multiple marketing partners. The FCC also objected to webforms that obtained broad consent for marketing calls about a wide-range of types of products and services. The FCC’s 2023 order adopted a new definition of “prior express written consent” that would have prohibited consumers from giving consent to receive marketing calls from more than one company at a time or about products and services that were not “logically and topically associated with” those promoted on the website. The Eleventh Circuit held that the FCC exceeded its authority under the TCPA because the consent restrictions conflicted with the ordinary meaning of “prior express consent.”  Click <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca11/24-10277/24-10277-2025-01-24.html" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

BULLETIN 25-EX-1: Open Application for Arbitration Panel 
On February 19, 2025, Commissioner John F. King issued Bulletin 25-EX-1 to notify the public that the Department is accepting applications from attorneys and insurance adjusters licensed in Georgia to serve as arbitrators on handling the arbitration of disputed property damage claims involving total losses under personal private passenger motor vehicle policies. The panelists will be selected from the applications received by the Department. Applicants need to complete the application attached to <a href="https://oci.georgia.gov/press-releases/bulletins" target="_child">Bulletin 25-EX-1 </a>.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

DIRECTIVE 25-EX-1: Change to the Consumer Access to Contracted Healthcare (Catch) Act Requirements and Filing Instructions 
On February 20, 2025, Commissioner John F. King issued Directive 25-EX-1 to inform Georgia health insurers that, as of March 1, 2025, the requirements for providing the CATCH Report to the Commissioner have been updated. This report is necessary to demonstrate compliance with O.C.G.A. § 33-20E-24. Insurers reports with the Georgia Department of Insurance must be filed annually by March 1.  All insurers offering health plans in Georgia should refer to Directive 25-EX-1 for the updated definitions, requirements, and filing instructions.  Click <a href="https://oci.georgia.gov/press-releases/directives" target="_child">here </a> to download Directive.

Category(s): - 03/21/2025

Georgia Access’ First Open-Enrollment Period Enrolls Over 1.5 Million Residents for Health Insurance Coverage 
On January 29, 2025, the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office reported that Georgia Access, the state’s new health insurance marketplace, enrolled over 1.5 million residents, including 225,000 new insureds, making it the second largest state-based health insurance exchange. Georgia Access offered multiple health plan options from among ten health insurers and eight dental insurers. According to the report, residents in 99% of Georgia’s 159 counties had three or more health insurance companies from which to choose. Click <a href="https://oci.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-01-29/georgias-first-open-enrollment-period-state-based-exchange-ends-record" target="_child">here </a> to read more.

Recent Editions

Alerts for May 2026

Posted on 5/28/2026

Alerts for April 2026

Posted on 3/30/2026

Alerts for January 2026

Posted on 1/21/2026

Alerts for November 2025

Posted on 11/26/2025

Alerts for October 2025

Posted on 10/6/2025