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Sunshine State Buzz Opinion: As States Face Looming Insurance Crisis, Florida Has Answers

“As States Face Looming Insurance Crisis, Florida Has Answers”

By Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis

Sunshine State Buzz Opinion

March 13, 2024

Read more HERE.

Since Governor DeSantis took the helm, life’s gotten complicated for the Florida haters.

Life’s good in the Sunshine State, and people know that, so Leftwing activists have had to persuade the world not to believe their own eyes. Especially since they’ve been on a crusade against normalcy. After all, these are the people who were pro-school shutdowns but supportive of BLM riots; they don’t like law enforcement, but they pushed the NCAA to allow transgender folks to compete against women.

And when poor and middle-class Americans were having their savings siphoned away by runaway inflation, the Left was busy taking victory laps on “Bidenomics.” Normal people — even many Left-leaning people — don’t like any of this and Governor DeSantis’ Florida has always represented a counterweight to these Leftwing states.

For all of Florida’s many blessings, however, you don’t have to be an actuary to know that when it came to our property insurance market, Florida had its issues. I love Florida, but my own premiums have gone up 50 percent. This isn't a new issue despite what you hear in the news.

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Florida’s insurance market was worse than it needed to be because we had bad laws that encouraged and rewarded litigation. Suing carriers became a profitable thing to do. We know that because Florida had 9 percent of claims nationally but had 78 percent of all litigation.

Contractors would go door-to-door telling residents they could get a discounted or free roof – and if the insurance companies fought back – then law firms could get back threefold what the actual claim was for, so insurance companies would just take the hit, and pass the expense to policyholders. You can’t have a healthy insurance market under those conditions, so insurance companies either folded or exited the market.

That was until Governor Ron DeSantis entered the picture.

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The state also worked to help policyholders by funding the My Safe Florida Home program, a grant program that provides free home inspections and grants of up to $10,000 for upgrading homes to make them less vulnerable to storms.

The average participant who realized savings from the program got $1,000 in savings on their premium. He even cut over $400 million in taxes for products to “harden” homes against storms, like impact-resistant windows, doors, and garage doors.

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Thanks to the Governor’s leadership, we’re starting to see the benefits. Today, carriers are reentering Florida’s market.

Since the reforms, seven new insurance companies have come to Florida, which is a big sign that the bleeding has stopped. For many carriers, the rate of premium growth has been cut down, and we’re even seeing a few carriers cut their rates.

According to the state-back insurance carrier of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, litigation is down 20 percent and they’re seeing an 800 percent increase in requests from private insurers who want to take on these policies.

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Of course, some of that has to do with Joe Biden’s inflation crisis. When construction costs are approximately 38 percent higher than a year or two ago, rebuilding your home is going to cost more, and your premiums are going to reflect that.

Problems happen in life and leadership matters.

When Florida faced its crisis, the Governor rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Like in his fight against Fauci, the Governor leaned into the problem and made the right decisions with complete indifference to what the establishment class thought about it.

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About CFO Jimmy Patronis

Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and X (@FLDFS).