Florida’s insurance crisis: DeSantis says ‘knock on wood’ during hurricane season
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Property Insurance experts are weighing in on one state senator’s call for another special session to address the skyrocketing cost of property insurance for millions of Floridians.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is also making news after addressing the topic, on a conservative talk show, where DeSantis is urging patience and hoping for no hurricanes this season.
While speaking on the Howie Carr show Wednesday, DeSantis said he thinks more insurance companies will return to Florida after the Hurricane Season. The Governor doesn’t appear to be entertaining the idea of another special session, which some senators say is needed to bring homeowners relief.
Related: State senator says Gov. DeSantis needs to ‘come home,’ call special session to address property insurance crisis
Wednesday on News4JAX, State Senator Tracie Davis of Jacksonville urged her colleagues to return to Tallahassee for another special session on property insurance, but this time, with the goal of saving homeowners money. Industry experts are responding, saying financial relief will come in time, saying the call for another session, is a hasty decision.
″And when we’re hearing now about proposals for special sessions, I’m not sure what they’re going to address,” Mark Friedlander with Insurance Information Institute, said. “And to me, that’s a panic decision. Because you’ve got to give it time.”
Gov. DeSantis is also urging patience, and quote “knocking on wood that we won’t have a big storm this summer.”
While speaking to conservative talk show host Howie Carr yesterday, when asked about Florida’s insurance crisis, DeSantis said the following about legislation passed during the last special session.
Related: Farmers Insurance pulls out of the Florida market
“I think what’s going to happen is because we did those reforms, it now is more economical for companies to come in,” DeSantis said. “I think they’re going to wait through this hurricane season and then I think they’re going to be willing to deploy more capital to Florida.”
“So knock on wood (that) we won’t have a big storm this summer,” he also said. “Then I think you’re going to start to see companies see an advantage.”
The conversation comes on the heels of Farmers Insurance’s announcement that it plans to no longer offer coverage to Floridians. Industry experts say Farmers Insurance, may not be the last..to decide insuring Floridians is too much of a financial risk.
“We have seen some projections that other companies may decide to take similar actions and withdraw from the state,” Friedlander said. “But we have no definitive information about that. I know it’s been speculated by some experts as well as some former legislators here in Florida.”
The governor said last year that Citizens Insurance was unfortunately undercapitalized and that the company could go belly up if they actually had to weather a storm, according to Florida Politics. The President and CEO of Citizens is asking the Florida Office of Regulation for approval for another rate increase, or 13.3 percent, which will raise policyholders’ premiums once again.
Source: WJXT News4JAX
