As chairman of the Florida Senate Insurance Committee, I was heavily involved in the insurance crisis that followed Hurricane Andrew more than 30 years ago. Unfortunately, once again, we are in an eerily similar situation with homeowners and insurers alike suffering.
Recently the market took another hit when Farmers Insurance became the fourth insurance company to leave the state within the past year. Then AAA piled on and said it would issue some non-renewals on a small percentage of its business within Florida. Both Farmers and AAA indicate their changes are because it’s become increasingly difficult to manage risk exposure in Florida.
This is underscored by Hurricane Ian’s devastation on the Gulf Coast, rebuilding, and recovery costs, leading to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates. Those increases, escalating housing prices, and inflation rates are creating the perfect storm for homeowners, especially our seniors who are on fixed incomes.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average annual property insurance premium in Florida is more than triple the national average. If homeowners haven’t lost their insurance, they’re likely to face rate increases. If they lose their insurance and can’t find a replacement, then they face foreclosure because most banks require proof of insurance to write loans on mortgages.
Thankfully, two special sessions on insurance in recent years led to revisions in the state’s legal infrastructure, specifically limiting the number of lawsuits that can be filed against insurance companies. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the legislature also made it possible to provide financial incentives to insurance companies in an effort to entice them to stay.
It has been made clear that the significant gains and momentum from the previous sessions will take some time to benefit both insurance companies and consumers. The Speaker of the House recently said that it will take a “couple of years before it levels out.” We cannot wait that long–especially seniors.
It’s important that politicians on both sides of the aisle not rest on the anticipated progress and call another special session on insurance to work on additional reform that can provide additional insurance relief. The legislature has made improvements, but they can do better.
With the state-led Citizens Property Insurance, which is supposed to be the insurance of last resort, projected to reach 1.7 million policies, or nearly four times its size in 2020, we need additional reform now! Citizens has added some 4,000 new policies within the past month. Change is necessary to help policyholders, make sure more insurers don’t leave our state, and give our residents more cost-effective options.
Clearly, this is a complicated issue that impacts almost everyone in the state, and this crisis is going to take a collective effort to solve. To be successful, we need our national and state-based insurers to continue their commitment to Floridians. The issue is not an insurance one alone. It affects the entire state economy. The time for the governor and the Legislature to act is now!
John Grant is a former Florida state representative and state senator. He is the president of Seniors Across America and a member of the PBM Accountability Project of Florida. He is also a member of the National Senior Citizen Hall of Fame.
