Florida Fiscally Sound For Hurricane Season

As a blogger for Insurance School Florida, it’s good to see that the Florida Hurricane Catastrophic Fund is at  well-funded  levels.   There is enough  enough money and bonding ability to pay off  Twenty-Five Billion Dollars  in losses .

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The Catastrophic Fund has 17  billion dollars  ready to go without the need for additional bonding.  Of that 17 ,  seven  Billion is from insurers.  In the event of a hurricane the first 7 Billion in  losses  would  Fall at the insurer’s feet  insurers.  That is called “industry retention.”  If an insurer is  is hit particularly hard  they are  eligible  to get help from the  Catastrophic  Fund.  

In addition to the retention , insurers pay a detuctible or co-pay for their Cat Fund coverage.  The  favorite  plan is  Ninety   percent  coverage and 10 % taken in losses by the insurer.

The Cat Fund does not cover commercial  real estate.  It covers residential.   

Florida is  overdue  for a hurricane now .  Here are some  statistics  :

  •  On Average for since 1901  a hurricane  lands  in Florida every other year. 
  • A Category 3 or stronger storm strikes the state every 4 years, on average.
  • 37  percent  of all hurricane landfalls fall in Florida ;  Thirty-eight   percent  of those are Category  three  or higher .
  • And the odds of having a damage are increased by having multiple hurricanes hit in  1 season like it did back in 2004 and 2005.

     

    After the 2005 hurricane season, many were  concerned  that there would be no insurance policies readily available in Florida’s future .   But the Industry and government  have worked it out so that a Hurricane doesn’t spell financial disaster.

    Rick Sabian

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