MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – The fallout continues after another major insurance company chose to pull out of Florida’s ailing property insurance market.
Farmers Insurance said Tuesday it will no longer service the Florida insurance market, affecting thousands of automobile, home and umbrella insurance policyholders.
“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” the company said in a statement.
Those weren’t the issues Florida lawmakers zeroed in on in a series of reforms last year. Democrats unloaded on Republicans for their handling of the crisis.
“What we saw was a $3 billion bailout for the insurance companies,” State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, who leads Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives, said Wednesday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis championed the reforms, aimed at curtailing lawsuits and shortening claim times.
“I can tell you this - in terms of immediate? You will see more people be willing to write policies in Florida because of what we did,” DeSantis said after signing reform legislation into law.
“Farmers didn’t say it was the litigation climate. Farmers said they are leaving the state because of the high risk and cost of reinsurance,” Rep. Hillary Cassel, D-Dania Beach, said.
Almost half of your rising insurance premium pays to reinsure the insurers. Lawmakers did create an assistance program for them, but only a fraction of companies qualified.
Meanwhile, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who oversees insurance companies, dissed Farmers as “woke,” promised to investigate and accused the company of playing politics.
The “woke” claim apparently stems from the company’s commitment to “Environmental, Social and Governance” and its decision to become a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance.
I’ve always said that when big decisions are made on insurance the policyholder is rarely in the room; unfortunately @WeAreFarmers proved me right. I’ve asked my team to put their heads together in holding Farmers Insurance accountable. I want additional scrutiny on this company. pic.twitter.com/fDgadXndfx
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) July 12, 2023
Actually, that game is over. Records show Farmers closed its political committee contributing tens of thousands of dollars that landed in politicians’ campaign accounts, including that of Patronis.
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, stood by Republicans’ reform efforts.
“While our reforms will take time to take effect, we put the right systems in place to strengthen our insurance market and provide Floridians with the access to coverage and peace of mind they need for their property,” Renner said in a statement.
An industry report out July 1 showed progress. Insurance companies posted positive net income last quarter for the first time since 2016, indicating reforms did start to right the market for companies.
Florida homeowners still have a Category 5-sized crisis on their hands, however.
The board of Citizens’ Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort, met Wednesday. It forecasts a double-digit rate hike this year and is adding customers instead of shedding them, as private companies pull out of the state.
“Nobody wants to pay more for insurance,” said Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio. “But even if OIR approves our requested rate increase, our policyholders will still be paying on average about 44% below the rest of the private market.”
That’s not what Citizens policyholder Willie Butts wants to hear.
“I had no other choice in that move,” he said of switching to Citizens.
Butts’ coverage increased by $1,000 with Citizens.
The disabled veteran feels lawmakers aren’t doing enough to fix the problem.
“I do know that this is something that cannot be ignored any longer because it’s only going to get worse,” said Butts.
Property Insurance Stability Report: