Consumer Protection Coalition Highlights Insurance Reforms Driving Lower Premiums for Floridians

Expanding Options and Lower Premiums: Florida’s Insurance Reforms Continue Delivering Results

~Private market strengthens, reducing burden on Floridians ~

Tallahassee, FL – Building on the momentum generated by transformative insurance reforms two years ago, Florida’s market continues to strengthen with more private insurers continuing to offer more affordable policies.

The beneficiaries are hard-working Floridians who are seeing premiums stabilizing or declining while Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-backed insurer of last resort, continues to reduce policies and the risk of assessments on Floridians.

“Florida remains a model for the nation, showing that long-term, market-based solutions pay off for consumers and the economy,” said Mark Wilson, President and CEO of the Florida Chamber. “By reducing red tape and the risk of meritless and limitless litigation, Gov. Ron DeSantis and recent legislative leaders have made an immeasurable impact benefitting all of Florida.”

In late June, Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky announced two new companies were approved to write residential homeowners’ insurance policies. In fact, 14 new companies have entered the market since the 2023 reforms reduced the risk of costly and baseless litigation.

Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said in approving the 13^th and 14^th new companies, “Our market is becoming more and more competitive, and we continue to see great progress in rate requests with over 120 residential filing requests for rate decreases or 0% increases so far this year.” Increased competition promises to continue these positive trends, with homeowners’ insurance premiums falling 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

As private insurance companies continue to return to Florida, Citizens Property Insurance is reducing its number of policies. This means a dramatically lower risk of statewide assessments on all policies to cover potential payouts.

“It is simply irrefutable that reforms championed by the Governor and passed by the Legislature have had a tremendous impact on improving this market,” said Tim Cerio,  President/CEO and Executive Director of Citizens Property Insurance.

The data provided by Citizens clearly reflects an increasingly healthy insurance market:

As of last month, Citizens' policy count was 777,592, down 36% from a year ago and 44.9% lower than the peak of October 2023 with 1.41 million policies.

Citizens’ exposure – backed by all insurance consumers in Florida – has dropped from $520.1 billion to $295.1 billion over the past year, a 43% reduction.

This great news for Floridians started 2.5 years ago in December 2022, when Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 2A, which reduced risk-free litigation through the elimination of the one-way attorney fee statute that forced insurers out of business or out of the state.

Since then, litigation has dropped by nearly 30 percent. At the same time, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation has cracked down on bad conduct to protect consumers through increased regulation and financial penalties for bad actors.

In addition to the property insurance stabilization, auto insurance costs are also dropping in Florida with major companies recently filing for rate reductions between 6% to 10.5%.

About the CPC:

The Consumer Protection Coalition is a broad-based group of business leaders, consumer advocates, real estate agents, construction contractors, insurance agents and insurance trade groups pushing for reforms to protect consumers from unnecessary high costs and abuse due to the state’s treacherous litigation environment – and advocating for sound public policy that puts consumers first. Learn more about the Coalition at www.FightFraud.Today, follow the Coalition on Twitter @CPC_FL and “like” our page at FB.com/consumerprotectioncoalition.