Florida’s home insurance crisis isn’t over yet!

Good morning, everyone Florida home insurance crisis isn’t over yet! Florida’s largest property insurer has signed another double-digit rate hike this week, pending approval by state regulators.

Increasing Reliance on Citizen’s Property Insurance

Citizens Property Insurance was created by the state and had only one purpose – to provide insurance as a last resort. But in these difficult times for the insurance market, the number of its policyholders has increased, and people living in hurricane-prone states and near the coast have had to leave their homes due to rising insurance rates. Over the past five years, many insurers have gone bankrupt, their number of policyholders has suddenly decreased, and because of this, they have raised their insurance rates.

A Different Kind of Insurance Provider

Citizens Property Insurance does not operate like a private insurance company, as its mission and rules are different, and more than 1 million policyholders, many of whom live in South Florida, rely on Citizens Property Insurance for coverage, whose cost is likely to continue to rise.

Regulatory Approvals and Rate Increases

The Citizens Board on Wednesday approved the state regulator’s request for a 14% average pay raise, confirmed in a news release by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Chief Financial Officer & Jimmy Patronis, and Republican legislators.

Legislative Responses and Market Reforms

Lawmakers and DeSantis have responded to the rise in insurance rates in many ways, but they have primarily sought to make it harder to sue insurance companies. They said litigation is driving up costs even more. However, GOP policymakers have opposed any other significant changes.

Signs of Market Improvement

Local leaders in Florida have recently pointed to trends that show the market is slowly improving, with new companies entering the market and some insurers either pledging no rate increases this year or recommending only modest rate cuts.

Economic Messaging and Public Sentiment

“We’ve said before that reducing insurance growth is not going to happen overnight,” DeSantis said in a statement Wednesday. “But the fact that Florida Republicans are so skeptical about the rising insurance rates reflects the problem President Joe Biden and Democrats have with messaging on the economy. Some numerous indicators and data show inflation is now stable and growing at a much slower pace than it has in the past, which are healthy signs for the economy.”

Florida home insurance crisis

Yet Americans are still paying more to meet basic needs than they are to go to the grocery store or think about buying a home or car, and Florida residents are still paying significantly more for property insurance than in years past. Recent reports show that property insurance rates in Florida are among the highest in the U.S. and they are four times higher than the national average. The bottom line is that Florida residents won’t be getting any relief from rising car and property insurance rates anytime soon, and there’s still an insurance crisis that isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

Also read: Nationwide Discontinues Pet Insurance Thousand of Policies are Canceled.