How the Florida Property Insurance Game is Played
Plus, bird baiting, legislative updates, and Casey DeSantis for governor?
In today’s newsletter, we feature part two of our series of columns about the Florida property insurance market. Part one is available here.
CURRENTS
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TOP NEWS
Florida House unanimously approves more funding for storm resilience grants. Florida Phoenix
Tampa third most overvalued housing market in the nation, FAU study shows. Tampa Bay Business Journal $
Search underway for multiple persons of interest seen on video from fatal Ybor shooting. Fox 13 News
223 citations issued in Gandy Bridge speeding crackdown, police say. News Channel 8
Florida prisons lock people in dirty showers for hours, report finds. Tampa Bay Times $
Plans to bring Brightline train to Tampa speeding up. News Channel 8
Online sports betting returns on limited basis in Florida. News Channel 8
Poll: Casey DeSantis front-runner for 2026 Florida GOP gubernatorial nomination. Florida Politics
Florida students' ACT scores among nation's worst. Axios
Federal judge rejects a challenge to Florida’s law on transgender athletes. WMNF
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BRIEFS
Migratory Bird Baiting: Captive Wildlife Investigator Fernandez investigated illegal migratory bird trapping in a rural area of Miami-Dade County, according to the FWC Division of Law Enforcement’s Weekly Report for Oct. 20-26. The investigator observed a small bird trap with a bait bird hanging in the trees. Upon closer inspection, he noticed more traps and set up surveillance. After a few hours, a subject appeared collecting the traps. The investigator contacted the subject to address the violations. The subject admitted to having more birds at the residence. The subject allowed the investigator to inspect the property and more birds and traps were located. A total of 20 birds and five traps were seized. The subject was issued a notice to appear.
Panther Death Update: The remains of a 2- to 3-year-old, male Florida panther (UCFP445) were collected on Nov. 6 on Keri Road in Hendry County, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The suspected cause of death was vehicle collision. The FWC updated the Panther Pulse web page with mortality information through Nov. 7. p.m. Biologists gain valuable information by examining panther remains. Report injured or dead panthers to the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922). Vehicle collisions are the primary cause of death for Florida panthers. The FWC encourages motorists to slow down and observe all posted speed limits, especially in panther zones, which are in place in several counties across South Florida and coincide with areas where panthers are known to cross. These panther speed zones help ensure the survival of the endangered Florida panther and protect motorists from personal injury.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
The Rules of the Property Insurance Game Are Rigged Against You
By Stephen Buel
In 2002, our legislature created the nonprofit Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
Legislators and regulators have been trying to put it out of business ever since.
Today, Florida’s property insurance market is a giant mess. Prices are surging. Companies are failing. Policyholders are being forcibly transferred from Citizens to more expensive carriers they’ve never even heard of. And homeowners with unresolved claims are filing lawsuits — or at least they were, before the Free State of Florida made it harder for Floridians to exercise that freedom.
There is nothing legislators or regulators can do to change this reality: Property insurance in Florida will just keep getting more expensive. We have the second-longest coastline of any state, and that coastline is low, densely populated, and in harm’s way. The growing threat of climate change just accelerates this certainty.
But there are things the state can do to mitigate our risks:
Tighten our building codes to harden our properties against wind, rain, and floods.
Prevent further development of coastal and low-lying terrain at high risk of storm damage.
Prevent the owners of damaged properties from rebuilding in the same location without reinforcing their properties against future threats.
Help all Floridians upgrade their properties to comply with the latest building codes.
And strengthen our nonprofit insurer of last resort.
Florida has done a decent job in some of these areas. Building codes were updated following Hurricanes Andrew and Charley, and Punta Gorda’s success at withstanding a direct hit from Hurricane Ian is a testament to the success of those efforts.
The My Safe Florida Home program, which provides homeowners with grants to bring their homes up to the latest building standards, has been overwhelmingly popular, and will probably be expanded during the current legislative session.
But other than making it harder for Floridians to sue their insurance company, our legislature’s most significant response to the insurance crisis has been to weaken Citizens Property Insurance at every turn.
Since even before Citizens was created through the merger of its two nonprofit predecessors, state officials have subscribed to the myth that Floridians would be better served by a multitude of small private insurers.
The state has continually sought to accomplish this goal by forcing Citizens policyholders to switch their insurance over to private insurers. The aptly ghoulish name for this process is “depopulation.” You can be forgiven for thinking that it sounds like a plan to kill you, or at least make you leave the state.
By now you have surely seen stories about policyholders who recently received letters that Citizens was dropping them because a private company had bid for their business. Many of you may have received such letters. Policyholders are automatically dropped by Citizens as long as these private carriers agree to only raise their rates by 20 percent or less in year one.
But some of these letters warn Citizens customers about vastly larger rate increases. ABC Action News recently interviewed a Seminole Heights resident who was offered replacement coverage for just $11,281 more a year — 432 percent more than he was paying at the time. If David Bryant had not gone online and declined the not-so-generous offer he received from by Slide Insurance Holdings of Tampa, he would have been tied to that coverage by default.
Bryant understands the way this game is played: “I think that the business model is that maybe you won’t check your mail, and then by default end up with Slide and paying a lot more money,” he told Action News.
But Bryant is not the only one who understands how this game is played — or should I say paid? The Tampa Bay Times recently published an alarming story about Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, who pitched his fellow lawmakers on a side hustle to invest in a homeowners insurance company that projects a 165 percent return on investment over five years.
And how does that company, Village Protection Insurance, expect to bankroll such rich returns? By helping to depopulate Citizens. The company expects to poach 20,000 customers from Citizens just next year alone, the Times reported. It was great reporting, though the Times did not note that Gruters voted for the 2022 senate bill that gave us the 20 percent depopulation rate hike that Village Protection is relying on.
Of course, Village Protection’s financial prospects are also much brighter now that Gruters and his peers also made it much harder for you to sue your insurance agency in the event that it doesn’t pay off on your claim.
Florida actually pays companies like Village Protection a bounty for every Citizens customer they can pick off. Depopulation was explicitly designed to direct customers away from the state-operated carrier to help pump up the finances of Florida’s armada of for-profit startups.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky calls depopulation the sign of a stronger insurance marketplace. Citizens’ own website gushes about how healthy it is for consumers to be automatically enrolled in a private insurance policy.
Given the state of Florida’s private insurance market, that is crap.
State officials say we should be happy with the growing Florida property insurance market, but the manner in which it is growing is only cause for alarm. If success means incentivizing the creation of insurance companies that kick back so much money to their investors that there are insufficient reserves to pay off policyholders, then the legislature is the very cause of our insurance crisis.
And Florida’s plethora of insurance lawsuits are not the root of our problems but rather a rational response to the anti-consumer regime created by our own state government.
Florida has been pushing this nonsense for more than two decades now. Nothing has improved, rates keep climbing, and every few years, a new wave of Potemkin insurance companies comes crashing back to Earth. Guess who picks up the tab when that happens? Yeah, it’s you.
But legislators are more concerned about the health of these often-flimsy insurance companies than they are for the well-being of the people who elected them.
So what should Florida do? Rather than tearing down Citizens Property Insurance, the state should build it up. Every time the state forces policyholders to obtain their insurance from a private carrier, it makes Citizens financially weaker by concentrating its coverage among those policyholders that no company wants — people who live in the riskiest locations and oldest homes.
Florida needs to encourage Citizens Property Insurance to enroll as many policyholders as it can. Since every Floridian with property insurance is ultimately on the hook if the carrier needs to be bailed out, it’s in everyone’s best interest for Citizens to balance the risk of insuring Dade, Broward, and Charlotte counties with the comparable safety of insuring Highlands, Sumter, and Alachua counties.
And Citizens should be allowed to raise its rates, so that its coverage is no longer cheaper than that of the private sector. Yes, such rate increases would be tough on many policyholders. But it’s going to happen anyway. And if Citizens doesn’t raise your rates, some predatory startup will do so instead.
Consider the viewpoint of that great legislative leader Sen. Gruters. “In a pitch to investors sent by Gruters,” the Times wrote, “company leaders wrote that ‘there lies a unique and lucrative opportunity for investors’ as Florida’s insurance market ‘undergoes a transformative disruption.’”
You can almost hear them salivating.
If Citizens were allowed to raise its rates and grow as large and healthy as possible, we could dispense with this anti-consumer depopulation scam. Then, private sector insurers could compete with it fairly, based on their financial reserves and record of customer service.
Given a choice between a nonprofit carrier and one that promises its investors a 165 percent return on investment, I know which coverage I would choose.
‘It’s just not affordable’: Some Florida homeowners ditch insurance due to cost. News Channel 8
WHAT THEY SAID
OTHER NEWS
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BAY AREA
Tampa police chief says the ‘Orlando model’ for nightlife looks ‘promising’. Creative Loafing
Teenage girl found dead near Bayshore Boulevard may have taken her own life, police say. 10 Tampa Bay
Tampa teen has been missing for a week. Her family has a simple message: 'We need you back'. 10 Tampa Bay
Hillsborough County plans fixes for dangerous intersections in Brandon. 10 Tampa Bay
A Tampa Bay Republican and a conservative think tank are working together to roll back child labor laws. Creative Loafing
Florida Attorney General’s office takes legal action against solar company. News Channel 8
Idalia wiped out more than 80 percent of existing sea turtle nests in Northern Pinellas County. 10 Tampa Bay
Mort Elementary receives help in focusing on mental health of students in University Area community. Fox 13 News
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts to mark move to Ybor City. Spectrum Bay News 9
Railroad work closing Tampa Street at Polk Street this week. ABC Action News
Interim Hillsborough transit chief scores $245,000 permanent contract. Tampa Bay Times $
Rowdies’ and Sun’s soccer league inks four-year TV deal with CBS. Tampa Bay Business Journal $
For Lightning rookie Matt Tomkins, earning his first NHL win at age 29 in Montreal is ‘special’. The Athletic $
FLORIDA
State Supreme Court to hear arguments today over proposed marijuana ballot language. Spectrum Bay News 9
Anti-Iran sanctions linked to Hamas attack are speeding through the Legislature. Florida Phoenix
Industry opposes nursing home staffing changes in Florida. WMNF
House OKs more funding for Jewish school security; more special needs vouchers. Florida Phoenix
Moms for Liberty members call police on Florida librarians over young adult novel. WMNF
What does Florida's new rule on the American Library Association mean for public libraries? WUSF
New bill proposed in Florida to add annual fee for electric car, hybrid owners in lieu of gas tax. Fox 13 News
Payment delays in Florida school voucher program need to be addressed, lawmakers say. Tampa Bay Times $
Sticker shock: New College business plan calls for $600k per student to implement conservative vision. The Capitolist
‘Really lucky’: Florida woman says snorkel mask saved her from serious injury in gator attack. 10 Tampa Bay
Tiger Woods to own and play for Florida team in TGL, his tech-infused golf league. The Washington Post $
POLITICS
Florida Republicans propose a bill allowing hand counting of ballots at election precincts. WMNF
Vote over Israel exposes rift within Florida Democrats. Politico
As DeSantis presidential bid lags, unease hangs over the Florida capitol. The Washington Post $
Trump will try to upstage the GOP debate with a rally targeting South Florida's Cuban community. The Washington Post $
ABOUT US
Editors: Judith M. Gallman and Stephen Buel
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