Homeowners will continue to see an increase in the price to live in paradise with another surcharge tacked onto their insurance premiums in 2023. This is to help the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) cover the claims from insurance companies that have gone into receivership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new charge is the second to hit homeowners this year and the third in the last two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When an insurance company goes insolvent and is liquidated, FIGA steps in and takes on all of its existing claims and pays back premiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 2013 to 2020, the nonprofit never had to issue these assessments, but as a company, after the company went into receivership last year, it took on thousands of claims and hundreds of millions in financial responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just before May’s special session on property insurance, FIGA\u2019s executive director Corey Neal said they had about 8,000 claims and expected maybe 2,000 more in coming months, many of those from St. Johns and Avatar Insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, that was a serious underestimate because just three months later, after Southern Fidelity and then Weston went under. Now, FIGA has about 14,000 claims it needs to pay out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u201cWe need that money now,\u201d Neal said in an interview on Sept. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n