Ian damaged Citizens Property Insurance’s surplus

Chances are, many of you have Citizens Property Insurance. It’s the largest property insurer in the state, but that wasn’t the goal when it came into existence in the 90s.

The insurer was supposed to be a last resort, but that’s not the case anymore.

In fact, Citizens Insurance has nearly 1.2 million policyholders, which is far too many households to cover without the right amount of surplus money.

The goal was to have around 450,000 policyholders.

Why so low? Because the larger Citizens Insurance is, if there’s a problem, a major storm, and the company’s surplus is eaten up, people living in Florida are going to have to for the bill. Not just customers but everyone.

That’s why companies like Citizens are on the hunt for reinsurance, something that protects insurance companies, and that is a challenge on its own.

“After Ian, the private industry, as well as Citizens and we took a hit on our surplus, and so we have less surplus to pay claims than we did before Ian that’s why we’re out in the market trying to secure reinsurance,” Tim Cerio said. “That’s why a lot of private insurers are trying to secure reinsurance and get their risk transfer programs in place. But the reinsurance market is tough right now, over. I mean, it’s a worldwide issue.”

Lawmakers are working on legislation that would help bring more home insurance companies back to Florida with the goal of creating a better litigation climate.

Insurance is supposed to give you the assurance of a road to recovery if something goes wrong, but it’s getting a bit difficult to navigate.

“I will tell you after Ian the private industry, as well as citizens, and we took a hit on our surplus, and so we have less surplus to pay claims, and we did before Ian,” said Cerio.

Especially after so many private home insurance companies pulled out of Florida, dumping hundreds of thousands of policyholders onto the insurer of last resort; Citizens.

“1.19 million policies now. I think one year ago, we were, I think, about 790,000? 790,000 policies a year ago. So we’ve grown tremendously,” Cerio said.

That growth isn’t good. It’s what Cerio wants to shrink for the better of the state and you.

“The reason you talked about us being in the role of the insurer of last resort, the larger we are, if there is a problem if there’s a major storm, and we’re hit, and our surplus is eaten up, the citizens of the state of Florida are going to have to foot the bill,” said Cerio.

You heard that right. Too many customers, too many claims, and potentially not enough cash to cover the claims. Then you’d have to pay too.

“That’s why we’re trying to depopulate,” said Cerio.

After Hurricane Ian, Citizens got hit with around 60,000 claims. With 65% of those coming directly from Southwest Florida.

New reforms from a December special session are expected to help with that. For example, if any Citizens Insurance policyholder gets a quote from another insurer, and the quote is within 20% of what you’re paying at Citizens, you don’t have to take the deal from the other policyholder. You’ll get the boot from Citizens, though.

“So it’s a balancing act between becoming once again the true insurer of last resort, which was the clear message that was sent out by the legislature during this past special session,” Cerio said.

Not only did that session work to condense Citizens, but also brought back more insurers to Florida.

“Hopefully, national insurers will start to come back. New companies will form, especially because they know that the litigation climate is going to get better,” said Cerio.

Litigation is why insurers leave. The Office of Insurance Regulation says about 7% of all claims nationwide come from the sunshine state, but 76% of all litigation also comes from us.

“They’re not going to have to pay exorbitant attorneys fees because of the acts of the legislature. So you hope these new companies come in, more capital comes in. And you know, that’s the way the market recovers. But again, it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Cerio.

As Citizens starts to depopulate, they’ll give people at least 120-day notice prior to their renewal date. Their goal is to insure around 450,000 people.