Homeowners Choice: state's first flood insurer

TAMPA — Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Inc., a Florida based provider of homeowners insurance and wholly owned insurance subsidiary of HCI Group Inc., has become the first state-licensed homeowners insurance carrier to provide flood insurance in Florida since the arrival of the Biggert-Waters Flood Reform Act of 2012.

Homeowners Choice's Executive Chairman Paresh Patel signed the company's first flood coverage policy covering the Chapman family's home in Seminole. The family's flood coverage in 2013 was roughly $9,700, but it was scheduled to increase to $57,000 this year. Homeowners Choice is issuing the Chapmans a policy for a total of $9,693, which includes both homeowners and flood coverage.

The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012 established premium increases in order to shore up the financials of the federal flood insurance program. In December, Florida insurance regulators approved an endorsement to Homeowners Choice policies to include flood coverage.