Putting Florida’s Insurance on a Safer Course

With the hurricane season now underway, Florida’s insurance market is teetering on the brink of insolvency due to changes in insurance laws that have seen the nation’s large insurers leave the state, including State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, USAA and others. Now, the state-run Citizens Insurance Property Corporation has moved from “insurer of last resort” to “insurer of first resort,” the largest insurer in the state with the riskiest portfolio. Should a major hurricane hit, or even a series of smaller hurricanes, the potential liabilities Citizens faces threaten the state’s finances and raise the specter of new costs for consumers, who will be assessed new “surcharges” on their insurance policies—including not just homeowners insurance, but automobile and other insurance polices as well.

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