The governor of Florida continues to defend the state’s struggling property insurance market, but his words are as cautious as they are reassuring.
government Ron DeSantis In Cape Coral on Friday, the state-owned insurer of last resort, Civil Property Insurance, said it was “unfortunately undercapitalized”. But he also said the company feels it can pay claims from this storm because of the relative lack of insurance in Southwest Florida.
Citizen’s customer base million customers Private insurers have gone bankrupt or bailed out states, but the governor’s remarks suggest there are limits to such growth.
DeSantis told reporters: ”
Fortunately for policyholders at risk from Citizens’ precarious position, “we don’t have as much insurance in this part of the state as in other parts of the state. I feel like I can pay my bills.”
citizens have showed confidence That loss is expected to be approximately $3.8 billion. additional assessment.
DeSantis emphasized the “wind-water thing”, as he did right after Hurricane Ian. He pointed out that often people don’t have flood insurance.
“In my view, most of the damage is from floods,” DeSantis said, arguing that some people who buy property insurance were told they “don’t need flood insurance,” and that the insurance settlements weren’t. He argued that he would be stuck paying the Federal Emergency Management Agency instead. .
The issue of insurance during the campaign’s stretch run is something DeSantis’ political opponents have tried to weaponize, and Friday’s comments were no exception.
Democratic Party Charlie Christ Again called DeSantis “the worst property insurance governor in Florida history.”
“And it’s not even close,” Christo said. “I never expected to see the day when the governor of Florida boasted about America’s most expensive insurance market held together by billions of bailouts and duct tape. It was special only for the insurance company that funded the $100 campaign and paid twice as much as a Floridian.Homeowners are under pressure and taxpayers are at risk because DeSantis failed. Floridians deserve a governor who cares about them, not insurance companies.”
Christo brought the insurance discussion to the airwaves as part of a seven-figure ad purchase earlier this month, and the message is corroborated by a third-party group.Christ Allies Lincoln Project Created a new digital spot for women in the hallways of Interstate 4 with the message that DeSantis is too busy with politics to fix her insurance.
The economic impact of the hurricane has been enormous for the insurance industry, with more than $5.2 billion in claims already paid out. Insurance Regulatory AuthorityAs of Friday morning, just over 12% of all claims had been resolved.
Property insurance in Florida continues to struggle as the industry’s annual losses exceed $1 billion for the second year in a row.parliament Convened in May We called for a special session to resolve the issue, including the establishment of a $2 billion reinsurance fund, but the bleeding did not stop.
Even before Hurricane Ian, the average homeowner premium in 2022 was $4,231. About three times the US average $1,544.
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Renzo Downey One from Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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