By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that Florida’s Citizens Insurance could become insolvent with one more hurricane hitting our state and you may also pay for it?
The latest data released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation shows that 84,400 claims have been made by homeowners and businesses since Hurricane Helene hit, with 42,219 of these being for residential properties. Now with Hurricane Milton also hitting both, the Western and East coasts of Florida, the cost of repairs to homes is estimated to be about $60-$100 billion.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned earlier this year that Citizens was “not solvent” and that it can’t function with “millions of people on that because if a storm hits, it’s going to cause problems for the state.”
Some home insurers began to pull out of Florida in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew hit Florida. Since then, 41 Florida insurance companies have filed for bankruptcy, or pulled out of the state.
In 2002, Florida legislators set up a nonprofit, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to provide coverage for homeowners who cannot find it through private means. Currently, Citizen’s Property Insurance is the largest provider in our state.
A spokesman for Citizens Insurance stated that if they do run out of funds, they have the power to immediately charge policyholders and extra 15% as well as a 10% surcharge to anyone in the state who has taken out any sort of insurance policy, whether or not they obtain their coverage through Citizens. Translated meaning, even if you don’t have Florida’s Citizens Insurance as your provider but have any home or property insurance from another company, you too will pay for damage to those who use Citizens Insurance.