Commissioner Yaworsky Issues Final Report Declaring Tampa Life Plan Village Violated Florida's Insurance Code and Mistreated Seniors
TALLLAHASSEE, Fla.—Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky today issued a final targeted examination report against a failed Continuing Care Retirement Community outlining violations of Florida’s Insurance Code, including failure to provide critical and contractual services to Florida seniors. Tampa Life Plan Village, previously known as University Village, and it’s board of directors, mismanaged residential services, including shelter and nursing care, for more than 100 senior residents. OIR’s report lists nine significant and damning findings against the facility and refers the case for further criminal investigation.
Tampa Life, previously, University Village, purchased the facility out of bankruptcy in 2020; however, Tampa Life and Big Rock Management Company, who oversaw the day-to-day operations of the facility, mismanaged the facility so poorly it went insolvent and back into bankruptcy—resulting in all residents being relocated to other facilities across the state and country. While OIR made every effort to ensure the protection of seniors within the facility’s care and assisted with the relocation efforts, OIR continues to stress that the office needs more statutory authority to strengthen existing controls to protect elderly residents.
Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said, “The level of mismanagement in this case and pure lack of empathy and quality of care for Tampa Life’s senior residents was unprecedented and shocking. Florida is seen as a beacon for the retirement community and these facilities often make generational promises that should always be fulfilled.
“There are many outstanding CCRC facilities in Florida that are great options for our seniors—unfortunately, Tampa Life was not one of these options. We must ensure this type of mismanagement never happens again, and I will continue to strongly advocate for more oversight control over these facilities.”
On March 1, 2024, OIR initiated an examination of Tampa Life. Through numerous meetings with Tampa Life leadership, in-person site visits to speak with residents, and collection of records and documents, OIR uncovered nine examination findings in violation of Florida Statutes and Rules. OIR referred these findings to the Department of Financial Services, Bureau of Criminal Investigation Division and stands ready to assist other agencies with ongoing efforts to ensure accountability.
Most significantly, OIR found Tampa Life:
-
Failed to ever provide accurate financial filings to the OIR, even after management attested to the accuracy of the financial statements. Accurate and timely filings provide OIR an opportunity to intervene early. Tampa Life did not submit its 2022 and 2023 annual and quarterly financial reports timely, or the 2022 independent audited financial statement. In some cases, reports have never been filed. Additionally, after an in-depth review, OIR determined that financial reports submitted by Tampa Life, covering the periods between Sept. 30, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2023, contain material errors and misrepresentations directly impacting Tampa Life’s reporting of its minimum liquid reserve (MLR) requirement compliance. Tampa Life, from its inception, never provided any accurate financial reports to OIR, even though the management of the facility executed attestations representing the contrary.
-
Became insolvent and unable to meet its financial obligations as they came due. While OIR worked with Tampa Life to pursue a corrective action plan, ultimately no solutions materialized, and within a week of OIR visiting the facility, the Tampa Life Board signed a resolution to pursue Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On March 1, 2024, the Board signed a resolution to effectuate its intent, but did not inform the OIR of its decision to file bankruptcy until April 3— just two days before Tampa Life filed the bankruptcy petition with the court. Within bankruptcy court documents, Tampa Life conceded that they operated at a cash flow loss monthly. Since August 2023, UMB Bank funded several hundred thousand dollars of operational shortfall.
-
Failed to provide the contractual services to its residents, as required by the life care contracts approved by OIR, and in an unprecedented event, caused all residents to be relocated. No longer able to honor the life care contract because of their insolvent financial condition, and absent an acceptable purchase agreement, Tampa Life made the decision to relocate residents to other facilities. Tampa Life held relocation fairs with other retirement communities and organizations. As part of the bankruptcy-approved transition plan, residents were offered funds to assist and cover the costs of relocating to a new community and return the remaining unamortized entrance fee. While the facility remained ultimately under the control of the Federal Bankruptcy Court, the State of Florida continued its efforts to protect the residents involved throughout the transition process. As of July 4, 2024, all residents moved out of the facility. Under the final approved bankruptcy order of liquidation, all outstanding resident claims, including promissory notes for legacy residents, were listed as Class 6, the lowest priority claim.
-
Did not obtain required statutory prior approval by OIR to remove minimum liquid reserves (MLR) from the US Bank and UMB Bank MLR accounts. OIR discovered at least eleven unapproved withdrawals from the MLR accounts. The MLR is mandatory under Florida law, and among other things, the funds are required to be held for the benefit of residents.
Florida has 72 continuing home retirement communities that currently serve more than 30,000 residents statewide. These CCRCs are under the regulatory umbrella of OIR, as they offer life care contracts that provide for a continuum of care at one community throughout a resident’s retirement. OIR’s priority is to work with and protect residents in these communities.
In the 2025 legislative session, OIR introduced a number of proposals to strengthen existing controls within chapter 651 governing life care contracts that would allow OIR to take action earlier in the event of an issue with a CCRC to minimize disruption to residents and increase transparency to residents. Commissioner Yaworsky has traveled the state visiting CCRCs to talk to residents and staff about OIRs efforts to secure more oversight. The Commissioner has also met with senior living associations to discuss OIRs work. OIR will continue to pursue every avenue to strengthen necessary protections for Florida seniors to ensure CCRCs are successful business ventures but most importantly, fulfill the often-generational promises they make to residents.
To view the final examination report, click here.
About the OIR
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has primary responsibility for regulation, compliance, and enforcement of statutes related to the business of insurance and the monitoring of industry markets. For more information about OIR, please visit floir.com or follow on X @FLOIR_comm.
|
