A.M. BestTV: Florida Insurers Aim to Lessen Flood Risk

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In this ^A.M.BestTV episode, attendees at the FAIR Foundation annual industry conference in St. Petersburg, FL, are bracing for changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), but a burgeoning private market for flood insurance should help homeowners and businesses. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=fair1517 to view the entire program.

The theme of this year’s conference is education, mitigation and protection.

“People need to be educated about the benefits of mitigation, especially in my area of Miami,” said Robert Reynolds, president & chief executive officer Morris & Reynolds Insurance. “Mitigation can be a long-term benefit if you own property, since you are investing to protect it. Consequentially, education is the key.”

One of the hot topics at FAIR was the future of the NFIP, and A.M. Best Senior Director Dan Ryan addressed that issue.

“The pricing on the program is not necessarily actuarially based; however, a lot of the pricing will be coming back with some of the reforms that have taken place over the last two years,” he said. Ryan also said that, “with the 2014 reform act some rate increases, which are needed, are going to cap at 16%-18% year-over-year.”

For full video coverage of the FAIR conference, including exclusive executive interviews, visit http://www.ambest.tv/fair17.

Other people that appear in this episode:

Jay Neal, president & chief executive officer, Florida Association for Insurance Reform;
Jeff Brandes, senator, Florida State Senate;
Kelli Hammer Levy, environmental management division director, Pinellas County, Florida; and
Patrick Murphy, former representative, District 18, Florida.

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^A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.