WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, confirmed an investigation into an insurance company and how it might have handled claims after Hurricane Ian.
Some homeowners in Southwest Florida said they were left with not enough money to fix their homes after claims were changed.
“From day one, DFS (Florida Department of Financial Services) has taken these allegations very seriously, and the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID) currently has an active and ongoing criminal fraud investigation related to this case,” read a statement from a CFO spokesman.
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Part of the allegations featured in a national report centered on one company — Heritage Insurance.
In a statement, Heritage called the report “flat wrong.”
The insurer said they also reviewed 10,000 Ian claims.
“We found that 4,162 of those were revised downward, 2,583 of them were revised upward and about 3,311 of them had no change from what the adjuster reviewed. This is further evidence that we work to pay every eligible claim,” according to Heritage.
Consumer advocates such as Doug Quinn of the American Policyholder Association said more enforcement of insurance regulations is needed.
“Do you know there’s 200,000 claims from Hurricane Ian that were closed with zero payment, people who had insurance and damage,” Quinn said. “They’ve got a lot of great regulations but regulations are just words on paper unless you’re going to enforce them.”
