Farmers Insurance has issued a “horrible excuse” as to why the provider is fleeing the Sunshine State, according to Florida’s chief financial officer,
“Farmers has become the Bud Light of the insurance industry,” Jimmy Patronis said on “Varney & Co.” Friday. “They’ve been prescribing to the United Nations proclamations and edicts that they’ve been pushing out.”
“Florida just had the most transformational special session dealing with litigation reform,” he continued. “Matter of fact, we’ve seen a 40% drop in litigation this year alone, simply because of the reforms package passed in December. They made poor decisions at the C-suite [level] and they’re making excuses to try to get out of it, cover their tail.”
Earlier this week, Farmers Insurance told the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FOIR) that it would “discontinue offering Farmers-branded auto, home, and umbrella policies in the state,” company spokesperson Trevor Chapman said in a statement to FOX Business. They covered 2% of Florida insurers, or 100,000 people.
BLUE STATE TAX EXODUS TO FLORIDA CHURNING THE ‘PERFECT STORM’
Farmers Insurance will inform those impacted of the timeline for when they will lose their coverage, in addition to getting “advised of options” for replacing it, according to Chapman. He described the decision as one “necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.”
In the event that an insurance provider decides to stop offering Floridians a type of coverage and must let those impacted know, a minimum 90-day heads-up to the FOIR is mandated by state regulations.
While the FOIR is currently reviewing Farmers’ notification, Patronis noted that there are “a number of tools in the toolbox” to hold the insurance provider accountable.
“We’ll start to review what type of complaints have been on Farmers, and if their market conduct has shown that they have not performed according to Florida statutes,” the CFO explained. “We’ve got fines. We can go after them.”
Florida’s insurance market has experienced difficulties in recent years, with a number of other private insurers becoming insolvent and others choosing to halt coverage in a state where hurricane damage and claims can become quite costly for companies.
Patronis criticized Farmers for acting like “a prodigal son.”
“If Farmers wanted to change their tune and come back, I’ll take them back into the state of Florida. I want a competitive market. But I think they have really poorly handled this,” Patronis reflected.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Representatives from Farmers Insurance did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“Their communications with our office and the state of Florida has been atrocious,” Patronis said, “and this is why they’re getting the attention and the berating they’re getting now. They kind of deserve it.”
FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.