November 22, 2024, WFLA-TV News Channel 8, Tampa – “Citizens is supposed to be the market of last resort,” said Lisa Miller, an insurance consultant with Lisa Miller and Associates. “Their rates are not supposed to be cheaper than the private market. Right now, they’re competing with the government, and no private company wants to do that because the government’s cheaper than they are.” (Video version of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP7cIFCiYJQ and the original text story location: https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/will-citizens-insurance-raise-rates-in-2025/)
TAMPA, Fla. – Florida homeowners are still grappling with high property insurance rates.
There’s now more concern that Citizens could implement a 14 percent rate hike on renewals next year.
It’s up to state regulators to approve the request, but policyholders are still waiting to hear their decision.
Meanwhile, Citizens continues to drop policies altogether.
Recent hurricanes and the high cost of litigation have been a catalyst for insurance companies to issue non-renewal notices.
“Citizens is supposed to be the market of last resort,” said Lisa Miller, an insurance consultant with Lisa Miller and Associates. “Their rates are not supposed to be cheaper than the private market. Right now, they’re competing with the government, and no private company wants to do that because the government’s cheaper than they are.”
However, Citizens is under more scrutiny after a new report shows more than half of the claims filed last year closed without payment.
“We do have the data which indicates that they’re closing out payments, claims with no payment at a much higher rate, significantly higher rate, than the average company in Florida,” said Martin Weiss, founder of Weiss Ratings based in Palm Beach Gardens.
According to research from Weiss Ratings, there were about 17,000 claims that weren’t paid out by Citizens last year.
“We need to get down to the bottom of what’s really going on,” said Weiss.
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