TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rising premiums, dropped from coverage — the property insurance crisis continues impacting people across the state, but experts see a silver lining in where things are heading.
First, there are people right now still feeling the impact, as part of an earlier announced “rebalancing,” some Florida homeowners with Progressive Insurance are starting to get notified that their coverage will not be renewed in the coming months.
We first told you about Progressive’s decision to drop roughly 100,000 policies in the state a few months ago. Now, homeowners in the Tampa Bay area are getting non-renewal notices in the mail. Deborah who lives in Riverview told 10 Tampa Bay that she’ll be dropped in May.
RELATED: Progressive: Some Florida homeowners insurance policies will not be renewed due to 'changes'
So what should you do if you get dropped? We talked with Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute who says aside from calling your insurance agent, “don’t panic," and consider shopping around.
“Market conditions are improving, there are seven new home insurers that have been approved to write policies in Florida,” Friedlander said. “This will give consumers an opportunity to shop their coverage and get competitive quotes, something we haven't seen in Florida in many, many years.”
At the same time some homeowners may have no choice but to go with the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance, which offers policies if the next best option is 20% more costly.
Citizens is currently working to depopulate their growing number of policies, having shifted hundreds of thousands of policyholders to private carriers in the past year. But the so-called "insurer of last resort" is still the top option.
“While we are seeing overall improving conditions, the market has not reached a stable level yet and Citizens is still a primary insurer for most consumers that are out there shopping," Friedlander said.
Changes are already coming for Citizens policyholders as the company tries other ways to get on a steady footing and lessen their risk exposure.
Beginning this year, some homeowners insured with the company will also need to carry flood insurance whether or not they are in a flood zone.
For all other Citizens Personal Lines residential policies that include wind coverage, the flood insurance requirement will be phased in for new and renewing policyholders over the next four years as follows:
- January 1, 2024, for policies insuring property valued at $600,000 or more
- January 1, 2025, for policies insuring property valued at $500,000 or more
- January 1, 2026, for policies insuring property valued at $400,000 or more
- January 1, 2027, for all other policies
In Tallahassee, state senators moved forward with a proposal that will allow more expensive homes to get policies under the state-backed insurer. A Florida Senate panel Tuesday approved a bill that would allow residents with homes valued at more than $700,000 to get coverage through Citizens, as some still struggle to find private market coverage.
This is a bill of last resort,” State Sen. Ed Hooper (R-Clearwater) told the Senate committee. “If you own a home that is more than $700,000, and less than $1 million, this is an opportunity for you to be covered by Citizens if there is no other admitted market opportunity.”
A similar bill in the House has not been taken up.
The Florida News Service contributed to this report