The damage caused by Hurricane Ian during its passage through Florida has brought to light several problems that have been dragging on the insurance market that covers real estate in that state for some years.
According to some experts in the financial sector for almost two decades, Florida has ceased to be of interest to the vast majority of large insurers operating in the United States.
And the fact is that Due to its geographical location, it is a region where each year the risk of suffering an attack of nature with enormous financial implications derived from the damage caused to homes and infrastructure rises.
This situation has left the market in the hands of small state insurers with limited resources and that at some point could represent many headaches for property owners who are used to paying for a policy that insures their assets .
The truth is that even before Hurricane Ian emerged in the ocean, six of those companies had already been declared insolvent to meet their commitments to their clients this year.
According to data from the Insurance Information Institute, Florida homeowners paid an average of $4,231 dollars for an annual policy, which represents almost triple the price allocated in most of the country, where $1 is allocated,231 dollars for similar coverage.
Despite this, there are very few local insurers that can deal with it to payments claimed by their clients in a natural disaster and climate change is exposing their vulnerability.
Many homeowners must instead buy their homeowners’ and wind-storm policies from the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the insurer of last resort that explicitly does not cover flood damage. Many homeowners complain that Citizens’ policies are barely affordable.
— Zack Colman (@zcolman) September 13, 2002
Citizens Property Insurance Corp, is the largest state-owned home insurer in Florida and since 2002 was established as an insurer of last resort for those who could not find coverage in the private market.
Currently, said company states that it has the capacity to cover its policy guarantees at 13% of the state market that it has in its portfolio.
Another example of this type of insurer is State Farm, a company that covers only 8% of the Florida home insurance market, but the contrast is that no other major national insurer has more than 4%, which speaks to the risks it faces to comply with what is established in the insurance policies signed by clients.
Now, in case some of the insurers cannot comply with their obligations, people who have paid for a coverage policy have the possibility of resorting to the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, which supports their claims.
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