State Farm execs defend departure from state

Huge losses going into the hundreds of millions of dollars, combined with a rate freeze, prompted State Farm, Florida’s largest insurer, to pull out of the state, the company president told members of the legislature. The last decade has been a drain on the Illinois insurer, State Farm president Jim Thompson told the House Insurance, Business & Financial Affairs Policy Committee on Tuesday, and said it must stem losses to be able to pay future claims. State Farm will cancel 1.2 million policies over the next two years after being rebuffed in its request to hike rates statewide.