Home Owner Insurance Port Richey Florida

Fla. largest insurer wants sweeping changes

Florida's largest property insurer wants sweeping changes - including the ability to charge higher rates - in the coming year.

It may be a hard sell during a contentious election year, but the board that governs Citizens Property Insurance voted on Monday to ask state legislators to approve a long list of changes during the upcoming session that starts in January.

Those in charge of the state-created insurer are pushing ahead with the changes at the urging of Gov. Rick Scott. Scott recently sounded warnings about Citizens, which has nearly 1.5 million policyholders, including many homeowners along the coast.

Scott and other top GOP legislators would like to see Citizens to shrink in size because of fears that the insurer could be subject to massive losses if a big hurricane hits. Unlike private companies, Citizens has the power to place a surcharge on nearly every insurance bill in the state if it can't cover its losses.

"I'm the first to acknowledge that it is time for us to contract and there is political pressure for us to contract," said Carlos Lacasa, chairman of the Citizens board and a former state legislator from Miami.

Lacasa and other members of the Citizens board said they want lawmakers to reconsider a controversial bill from this past year that would allow Citizens to raise its rates more than 10 percent a year and would make it harder for policyholders to be covered by Citizens.

For example, state law now says that a homeowner is eligible for a policy from Citizens if the only alternative is a policy from a private company charging rates that are 15 percent higher. The new proposal would make homeowners ineligible for Citizens unless a private company is charging rates 25 percent higher.

Citizens officials also began discussing changes that could be done without approval from the Florida Legislature, including increasing deductibles for sinkhole coverage and eliminating certain types of coverage.

One proposal that was discussed would require homeowners to pay 10 percent of the cost of any sinkhole damage before the insurance coverage kicks in.

Florida's Largest Homeowners Insurance Company Agrees To ...

 Citizens Property Insurance, the largest property insurance provider in Florida, presents challenges to the state due to its sheer size and accessibility to consumers. This was demonstrated when the Citizens board of governors agreed on implementing far-reaching changes to insurance regulations. The Citizens board is pushing for change via the state legislators with advice from Florida’s governor Rick Scott, who had recently aired his concerns about the insurance provider. Citizens Property Insurance may be disadvantaged at pushing for the changes due to the controversial election year, but may succeed due to the Governor’s backing. The insurance provider has close to 1.5 million policy holders, homeowners included, and Governor Scott, as well as other legislators, would prefer a reduction in these numbers. This is due to the risk of Citizens encountering major losses should a hurricane or other natural disaster hit the state of Florida.  Citizens is also state created and state-run, which also implies that in the case of losses, the insurer has the power to surcharge almost every insurance bill on Florida. This is not the case for private insurance companies, and it proves a threat in the face of natural disasters, as well as financial difficulties for the overall insurance industry in the state.

Citizens chairman of the board, and former Miami legislator Carlos Lacasa, acknowledged that it is time for the insurer to cut in its size, and that “there is political pressure for us to contract”. Lacasa also alluded to a previous controversial insurance bill, asking legislators to reconsider it given the current state of affairs. The bill would allow Citizens Property Insurance to raise its rates by more than 10% every year as a way of both raising enough financial security and reducing the number of policyholders with the insurer. Should this bill be passed, it would mean that homeowners would not be eligible for Citizens insurance unless private insurance companies offer their rates at 25% or higher. The current law states that homeowners are eligible for Citizens if alternative policy rates are 15% higher, which has proved a contributing factor in the rise of policyholders with Citizens.

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