Gov. DeSantis says reforms have improved homeowners insurance market

Gov. Ron DeSantis took a lot of heat for insurance costs skyrocketing early in his tenure. But as time runs out on his governorship — and hopefully the hurricane season — he says the marketplace is much more consumer friendly than it was before changes he backed.

“As of Sept. 30, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation has received 59 rate filings for rate decreases and 87 filings for zero rate increases,” DeSantis said during a Monday speech to the American Property Casualty Insurance Association in Orlando.

“And then one of the largest insurers in the state, Florida Peninsula Insurance Company, has requested its largest rate decrease in recent memory. That would not have happened had we not done those reforms.”

DeSantis in December 2022 signed SB 2A, which reduced litigation while eliminating one-way attorneys fees, addressing issues that supporters of the legislation said forced many insurers out of business in Florida.

New companies are entering Florida now, DeSantis said, which gives power to consumers.

“That helps discipline the behavior of the businesses that are in that market, if they know that there are two or three other options, and hopefully more, that they would be able to have,” DeSantis said.

This has led to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which is the public insurer of last resort, shedding 214,000 policies and $303 billion of potential liability amid the resurgence of what the Governor calls a “vibrant private market.”

And that helps everyone, DeSantis said.

“If there was a major event and it had (an) excess of liabilities from what it could pay out, it is authorized under law to institute assessments on every policy in the state, regardless of whether it’s Citizens.”