Insurance companies raise rates for many Floridians, drop others altogether

Fla.– Hurricane season is here and thousands of people are loosing their property insurance. Many others are seeing their rates sky rocket.

Governor Ron DeSantis plans to sign property insurance changes into law but opponents of this move say the prices will rise for those who belong to the state run Citizens Property Insurance. Supporters say the new bill will eventually force rates down.

Republican State Representative Jenna Persons said insurance is a major issue that she hears about quite often.

“I’m getting multiple phone calls and multiple emails from constitute this area that are having issues with home ownership and insurance,” Persons said.

The purpose of the new bill is stop fraudulent roof damage claims, which drove up costs for nearly everyone.

“I proudly voted for the bill,” Persons noted.

Private companies have been dropping tens of thousands of customers because of financial issues. This leaves most property owners with no choice but to choose the state run Citizens Insurance.

“We want to make sure that Citizens, which was intended to be the provider of last resort is not the first choice for Floridians,” said Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez.

Nunez and Governor DeSantis say more will likely need to be done in the future. The bill the governor is expected to sign allows Citizens to raise it’s raise it’s rates.

“The Citizens Insurance is a publicly backed insurance program so if there are losses there we all pay for that as taxpayers. There isn’t some other pool of money to pay those claims out of,” said Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell.

Insurance companies lost $1.5 billion last year. Insurance experts say the new bill that cracks down on fraud won’t likely have any impact on loading rates for at least a year and a half.

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