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ICYMI: Florida homeowners rattled by property insurance costs after DeSantis sides with insurance companies
On the heels of Ron DeSantis signing legislation aimed at shielding insurance companies from lawsuits just months after Hurricane Ian hit and devastated Southwest Florida, new reporting from the Palm Beach Post details the stories of five Floridians facing the real life impacts of the state’s worsening property insurance crisis. As DeSantis refuses to help, homeowners across the state are facing outrageously high increases in their insurance premiums, being forced to find a new insurance provider after their last provider went insolvent, potentially putting off retirement to pay for their insurance policies, and even considering leaving the state to escape the property insurance crisis.
As House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell put it last year, DeSantis’s failures to address the property insurance crisis as a “one-billion dollar- bailout to insurance companies” with “no real rate relief to Florida homeowners.”
Palm Beach Post: ‘I almost had a heart attack’: Florida homeowners rattled by property insurance costs
Key points:
- Homeowners are finding their premiums are going up two- or three-fold. Some are being suddenly dropped by their provider and forced to find new coverage, and others are learning that some providers are extremely picky about who they will cover or require a laundry list of fixes.
- All the while, there’s finger-pointing with lawmakers and insurance companies on one side, and lawyers, contractors and public adjusters on the other — with homeowners caught in the middle. And now, policyholders will pay a new 1% assessment starting in October that will go toward the state nonprofit agency to pay claims from insolvent insurers.
- The crisis has put homeowners in a difficult position. Those on fixed income or who haven’t had a raise in years are cutting necessities like groceries. Others may put off retirement or even move to another state.
- “These are more than ordinary increases in expenses. These are substantial increases in expenses, to the point where someone of lower or more moderate income is either not going to buy insurance or is going to be unable to afford the insurance even though it’s mandated by state law,” [Joseph Bianco Jr.] said.
- “It is a state of Florida problem, and unless the state of Florida governor and legislature keeps it as a high priority item, the long term is not going to be solved,” he said.
- But when she received her most recent property insurance renewal, “I almost had a heart attack,” [Donna Lillard] said.
- She had to take out a cash advance of $2,000 to cover the extra costs and has already withdrawn money from her 401K. Despite the advance having zero interest, it still bothers her that she’s back in debt after working so hard to get out. Lillard has cut back on spending at the grocery store and waits until items go on sale.
- “It’s very stressful for me, very upsetting for me, but I can’t even afford some of the basic needs just to get by,” she said.
- Bill Lincoln wants to retire. But despite his best efforts, he can’t get a new private property insurer to cover his Cape Coral home. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. won’t insure him because his home value is too high. And the lapse in coverage is going to cost him.
- Lincoln, 67, is at the whim of the coverage provided by his mortgage lender, which he is anticipating will cover very little for very much. Whatever provider takes him on next will likely penalize him because he will have had a break in coverage.
- “Our property taxes have increased; everyone’s have. Our insurance costs have increased. Our utility costs have increased. Within just a few years, all of those things have gone up significantly,” Lincoln said.
- “The insurance pushed me out of South Florida, and now the insurance crisis may push me out of Florida altogether,” the 65-year-old [Steve DeCerchio] said.