A day after he threatened to block Allstate from selling auto insurance in the state of Florida, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty ordered Allstate to stop selling all insurance policies in Florida.

Allstate had not immediate reaction but is expected to go to court to try and overturn this ban.

The suspension affects only new policies by the state’s second-largest auto insurance group, including Encompass and Allstate Floridian. Those with current home and auto policies are not affected. Neither are renewals of existing policies. Allstate has 2 million customers in Florida.

The order is in retaliation for Allstate’s refusal to turn over records subpoenaed by McCarty’s Office of Insurance Regulation. The investigation began as an inquiry into whether Allstate and other insurers conspired to pump up hurricane rates in Florida despite legislation intended to bring homeowners relief.

McCarty also wants Allstate to turn over what’s called the McKinsey Report, a consultant’s report from 1992 that suggested Allstate use a computer system called Colossus to generate auto injury claims payments based not on losses but on profit goals.

To date, Allstate has refused to release the records, including to a Missouri judge who has imposed a $25,000-a-day fine against the company.

It is about time that someone in Florida Government took steps to stop the insurance companies improper actions against Florida residents. Keep up the good work Mr. McCarty.

About Mr. McCarty: Three years into his tenure as Florida’s first appointed insurance commissioner, Kevin McCarty has cemented his reputation as an innovator utilizing technology to improve the regulatory process, as a fierce defender of seniors and historically discriminated minorities, and as a national leader who is forging a coalition to implement a national catastrophe strategy.

That is correct. The Insurance companies earned a record 3.4 billion in profit in the state of Florida last year, and yet they are still canceling policies and asking for rate increases.

As usual, just like gas, and power, and other industries, insurance is quick to raise the rates but it takes months, sometimes years, to see it come back down when the economic indicators say it should.

Because of this a special Senate panel threatened Thursday to subpoena leading insurance industry executives to explain why some Florida consumers have not seen savings on their property insurance bills. The lawmakers are frustrated at the delay in getting savings back to the state’s consumers.

‘It’s time for the fork to meet the grits,’ said Sen. Bill Posey, the Rockledge Republican who chairs the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. ‘We need to make sure this stuff is rolled back as far as it needs to be.’

Posey spoke at a news conference announcing the special Senate panel that will include half of the Senate’s 40 members. It will be co-chaired by Sens. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and Steve Geller, D-Cooper City. Lawmakers said they intended to put industry executives under oath during testimony before the panel.

CFO-elect Alex Sink gave the first glimpse of her own insurance agenda at a House conference this morning.

The banking executive drew applause from the room of representatives by suggesting insurance companies need to state up front what they’ll give back to consumers in exchange for their own demands.

“We can’t keep giving favors to insurance companies and have them stick our nose in it 10 days after the bill is passed,” Sink said, referring to State Farms’ rate hike filing on the heels of favorable insurance reform legislation last spring.

“It can’t be a one-way street any longer.”

The entire article can be read at Florida Today.