Something big is happening this morning in Tallahassee. The Florida House Insurance and Banking Committee is holding a long-overdue investigative hearing beginning at 8:00 a.m., and for once, the spotlight is shining where it should—on the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) and its leadership. I previously noted this upcoming hearing in Florida Legislators to Investigate Whether Property Insurers Used Accounting Tricks to Hide Profits.
I wrote about what is at the heart of the inquiry in Secret Report Proves Florida Insurance Executives Wrongful Self-Dealing — a secret report that was buried deep inside OIR for nearly three years. A report that, if released at the time, could have exposed how insurance executives and their affiliated companies were pocketing billions while Florida homeowners were drowning in skyrocketing premiums. Those same insurance executives, their lobbyists, and David Altmaier were telling Florida’s legislators of the great financial need to overhaul insurance policyholder protection laws and blaming lawsuits as the reason why insurers could not make money in Florida.
Instead of ensuring transparency, former Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier and his successor, Michael Yaworsky, kept the report hidden. It only came to light after a journalist, refusing to take “no” for an answer, pried it loose through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Now, lawmakers are demanding answers, and today’s hearing is the first real attempt to pull back the curtain on what may be one of the most egregious failures of regulatory oversight in recent Florida history.
What’s in the Secret Report?
This isn’t just some boring financial document filled with numbers only an actuary could love. The report paints a damning picture of how Florida’s domestic insurance companies were playing a financial shell game—one that allowed them to claim losses publicly while funneling billions into affiliated companies behind the scenes.
Here are the big takeaways from the report:
- Insurance companies claimed they were losing money—but their affiliated service companies raked in $14 billion in profits over three years.
- Managing General Agents (MGAs), claims firms, and other affiliated entities were charging “fees” as high as 63% of premiums—a figure that defies logic and fairness.
- Some companies were forgiving or waiving fees to create the illusion of financial distress—potentially misleading regulators and lawmakers into approving massive rate hikes.
- Insurers were paying out huge dividends to parent companies and executives while crying poor in front of lawmakers.
This wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a deliberate, calculated strategy that kept consumers in the dark while insurers and their executives made out like bandits.
David Altmaier: Was the Fox Guarding the Henhouse?
You’d think the person in charge of regulating this industry would be outraged, right? You’d expect them to take immediate action, hold insurers accountable, and alert the public.
But David Altmaier did the exact opposite. He kept the report hidden—and then, just months after leaving office, he walked straight through the revolving door into a cushy job at The Southern Group, one of Florida’s most powerful insurance lobbying firms.
That’s right. The man who was supposed to be watching out for Florida homeowners now works for the very industry he was regulating. And if that’s not enough, he just landed an executive position with a reinsurance trade group, ensuring that his connections in the regulatory world keep paying dividends.
Now lawmakers are asking: Did Altmaier bury this report to protect his future career in the insurance industry? The Florida legislature must ask, “What did Commissioner Altmaier know about the secret report, and when did he decide to bury it?”
Yaworsky’s Role: Why Didn’t He Make the Report Public?
Altmaier may have walked away with his golden parachute, but what about Michael Yaworsky, the man who took over as Florida Insurance Commissioner?
When Yaworsky stepped into the role in 2023, he had a chance to right this wrong. Instead, he continued the cover-up, failing to disclose the report until forced to do so by a journalist’s records request.
Why didn’t Yaworsky immediately release the report when he took over? Did he fear backlash from the powerful insurance industry? Did he, like his predecessor, have his sights set on a lucrative industry job down the road?
These are questions lawmakers are demanding answers to today.
What Questions Will Lawmakers Ask Today?
Today’s hearing is shaping up to be one of the most critical moments in Florida’s insurance regulatory history. Expect tough questions like:
- Why was the report hidden?
- Who within OIR knew about the report?
- Who made the decision to keep it from the public?
- What communications took place about suppressing the findings?
- How did insurers get away with these financial maneuvers?
- Were they actively misleading regulators?
- Did the OIR fail in its duty to ensure transparency?
- Were these hidden profits used to justify unnecessary rate hikes?
- What role did Altmaier’s career plans play in all of this?
- Did he keep the report hidden to protect the industry he now works for?
- Were there discussions between Altmaier and insurers about his post-OIR employment?
- Why didn’t Yaworsky immediately release the report?
- Did he fear upsetting the insurance industry?
- Was there internal pressure to continue suppressing the findings?
- What reforms are needed to prevent this from happening again?
- Should Florida law prohibit former insurance commissioners from working as industry lobbyists?
- Should insurers be required to disclose all affiliate transactions in a transparent and public manner?
- Does the OIR need more vigorous oversight and accountability measures?
Florida homeowners have endured year after year of soaring insurance premiums, with little to no accountability for the insurers profiting from this crisis. This hearing represents a watershed moment—an opportunity to demand transparency, expose wrongdoing, and ensure that the people regulating the industry are actually working for consumers, not for their future employers in the insurance sector.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. If lawmakers do their job today, this hearing could be the catalyst for real reform—one that stops the endless cycle of insurance industry insiders regulating themselves while Florida homeowners foot the bill. I expect that this will be the first act of a long play exposing what really goes on in Florida’s insurance regulating world. But this is the first time what goes on behind the “revolving door” of insurance regulators helping the insurance industry is going to be revealed.
One thing is for sure: The truth is finally coming to light. And for those who worked so hard to keep this report buried, that’s got to be an uncomfortable feeling.
Stay tuned. As I said, today’s hearing is just the beginning.
Thought For The Day
“Our investigation is an effort to try to find out what the truth is.”
—Senator Lowell Weicker (R-CT), Watergate Committee
