
BlogFriday, May 25 2018
The Florida fund that helps private insurers pay out claims after a hurricane remains in good shape heading into a storm season. Despite losses from Hurricane Irma, estimates show the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund will have $17.3 billion available this year. This means that the fund has more money than it would need to pay out if storms racked the state. The estimates were formally approved last week. The financial health of the fund is important because the state can impose a surcharge on most insurance policies to replenish it if the money runs out. Some critics have called the surcharge a “hurricane tax.” The fund built up its reserves during a lengthy period when there were no storms. The fund is expected to pay out $2 billion for claims associated with Irma. Monday, May 14 2018
Florida leads the nation in the number of air bag injuries and deaths. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday that 83 injuries and three deaths have been linked to Takata air bag ruptures in Florida. Nelson was planning to meet with people who have been injured by air bags on Saturday in Orlando. Nelson says the next highest amount of casualties from air bags were in Puerto Rico, Texas, California and Georgia. Takata inflators can explode with too much force and blow apart a metal canister, spewing shrapnel. The Japanese company’s defective inflators touched off the largest automotive recallin U.S. history, involving 42 million vehicles and 69 million inflators |