{"id":537,"date":"2025-02-24T10:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/?p=537"},"modified":"2025-02-24T14:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:47:20","slug":"the-hiding-game-insurers-move-money-to-mask-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/the-hiding-game-insurers-move-money-to-mask-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hiding Game: Insurers Move Money to Mask Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: John D. Hadden, Attorney at Penn Law<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the lead-up to Florida\u2019s tort reform legislation, insurance companies funneled billions of dollars to shareholders and affiliate entities while simultaneously claiming financial losses in the state\u2019s markets, according to a newly revealed study commissioned by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

In a Miami Herald article titled \u201cSecret study found Florida insurers sent billions to affiliates while crying poor<\/a>\u201d reporter Lawrence Mower writes that \u201cexecutives distributed $680 million in dividends to shareholders while diverting billions more to affiliate companies.\u201d The article also quotes Doug Quinn, Executive Director of the American Policyholder Association, who stated, \u201cThese companies are crying poverty in order to raise premiums or justify insolvency: \u2018It\u2019s litigation, it\u2019s fraud\u2018\u2026.This is money shifting from their left pocket to the right, and crying poverty while their right pocket bulges.\u201d

In some cases, insurers collapsed while their affiliates\u2014the beneficiaries of these financial maneuvers\u2014thrived.

The study<\/a>, which was withheld from lawmakers as they debated, and ultimately enacted sweeping tort reform at the insurance industry\u2019s urging, exposes how insurers exploited affiliate companies to shift profits and circumvent state-imposed profit caps. These affiliates charged insurers exorbitant fees for essential services, directly benefiting company executives. Meanwhile, the effects of tort reform continue to reverberate across Florida, making it more difficult for victims of negligence and wrongdoing to seek justice\u2014all while insurance companies reap the rewards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: John D. Hadden, Attorney at Penn Law In the lead-up to Florida\u2019s tort reform legislation, insurance companies funneled billions of dollars to shareholders and affiliate entities while simultaneously claiming financial losses in the state\u2019s markets, according to a newly revealed study commissioned by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. In a Miami Herald article …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pennlawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}