Without nearly as much fanfare as goes into rejecting rate hikes,
Florida insurance regulators wasted no time in approving Nationwide's
decision to go with the flow and cut home premiums an average 16 percent.

The filing with the Office of Insurance Regulation has been quietly
stamped "approved," pending receipt of final documents.

The approval brings total premium reductions since June to 21 percent
for the Florida insurer, exceeding the expectations and promises of
Florida's insurance consultants. The savings is despite Nationwide
Insurance Company of Florida's decision to buy $49 million in additional
reinsurance from its national parent as well as the private market.

Florida Farm Bureau protests a request by state regulators to delay
an upcoming administrative hearing on the company's denied property
insurance rate hike.

The 25 percent increase was to have gone into effect earlier in
October and every day that goes by is costing Florida Farm Bureau
$78,000 in lost revenue -- $2.4 million a month.

Or look at it this way.

Every day that goes by without the rate hike being approved is saving
Florida Farm Bureau's customers $78,000 -- $2.4 million a month.

The Office of Insurance Regulation says it is not ready to go
head-to-head with Florida Farm Bureau over denied rate hikes.

The state agency on Monday asked an administrative law judge in
Tallahassee to postpone hearings on the two-month-old case, set for hearings on Nov.
5 through 9. The state contends the case is "complex" and requires
extensive discovery, including expert witnesses and depositions of nine
individuals that have not yet taken place.

What's more, OIR lawyer Marc Herskovitz says he's tied up in other
matters -- including a district court appeal with Universal Health Care
Insurance.

The property insurance wars go public again on Thursday, when state
regulators are scheduled to grill executives of Cincinnati Insurance
about the role financial rating firms and reinsurers played in the
company's request for rate hikes.