Florida Insurance Bills Pass
The Insurance bill intended to stabilize the insurance industry in Florida and potentially lower insurance rates for homeowners has now passed the Florida Senate and House and will move on to Governor DeSantis to sign.
Will it help?
This is a “time will tell” situation. Theoretically, by curbing lawsuits and assignment of benefits, expenses will be lowered for insurance companies and those savings should be passed on to the insured.
Assignment of Benefits is not necessarily a bad thing but has resulted in perhaps unnecessary repairs or repairs that were not storm related. Then when insurance companies deny the claims, the contractor and homeowner can sue the insurance companies with the insurance company being responsible for the attorney fees.
Curbing these actions may help reduce unnecessary claims. That may help insurance companies remain solvent as then be able to pass on savings to consumers. That cycle will take some time.
Another element of the bill forces homeowners out of Citizens Insurance. This may increase costs for some homeowners as they are forced into private insurance rather than the State backed Citizens Insurance.
Maintaining Citizens Solvency
What many Florida homeowners may not know is that if Citizens Insurance is not fully funded by its insured policy holders, the rest of us help out by paying a “hurricane tax” on our own private insurance bills. The most recent example of this is after the 2004-2005 hurricane season, a 1% surcharge was placed on every private insurance policy in Florida for the following 8 years.
Helping Citizen’s remain solvent and able to pay claims without implementing that surcharge helps all private homeowners insurance bills remain a bit lower.
Soothing the Pain
Two other bills were passed that were intended to help Florida residents – Property Tax Refunds for homes damaged in Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and a rebate to “frequent users” of Florida’s toll roads for the 2023 year. A frequent user is more than 35 tolls a month – indicating using toll roads for commuting not pleasure drives.
Bottom Line
Florida homeowners will NOT see immediate relief from their high insurance bills. Any impacts of the Insurance bill won’t be felt for 2-3 years at least.
Senator Passidomo and House Speaker Renner have promised to be watching insurers to make sure these changes trickle down. They have committed to holding them accountable.
As Florida residents, let’s keep an eye on the Legislature and hold them accountable, as well.
Beth Tate 