Florida Considers Insurer Stress Tests to Instill Public Confidence

Florida’s chief financial officer says creating a “stress test” will help instill public confidence in the smaller insurers that have come to dominate Florida’s homeowners’ insurance market.

Jeff Atwater said Tuesday that creating a stress test whose results are made public would give homeowners the confidence that the smaller companies are well-managed and will deliver when the next major hurricane hits the state.

Atwater spoke at a conference sponsored by the Florida Chamber of Commerce at Walt Disney World.

Florida’s homeowners’ market has come to be dominated by smaller insurers who filled the vacuum left by the nation’s largest insurance companies when they decided to limit policies in Florida after two years of major hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

Atwater also said consumers are ready for rates to come down.