ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — When it comes to the insurance woes plaguing hundreds of thousands of Floridians, Gov. Ron DeSantis seems hopeful things will turn around — we may just have to get through this hurricane season first.
The governor addressed what he called Florida's "challenging" insurance market in an episode of the "The Howie Carr Show" posted on Wednesday.
He explained how factors like hurricane damage and litigation costs negatively affected the state's insurance market before mentioning the recently-passed legislation aimed at addressing the issue.
"What I think is gonna happen is because we did those reforms, it now is more economical for companies to come in. I think they’re gonna wait through this hurricane season and then I think they're gonna be willing to deploy more capital to Florida," DeSantis said.
He argued that "there are just more perils in Florida" that lead to higher insurance premiums but said recent reforms should provide a pathway for insurance companies to make their way back to the state.
"So, knock on wood we won’t have a big storm this summer, then I think you're gonna start to see companies see an advantage," DeSantis added.
The governor's comments come the same week AAA Insurance announced it was dropping a "small percentage" of Florida homeowners and Farmer's Insurance backed out of Florida altogether. In the past 18 months, seven insurers have gone insolvent and several others have stopped writing policies in the state.
Still, like DeSantis, Republican lawmakers remain confident that reforms made during special sessions will have a positive impact on the market.
"While our reforms will take time to take effect, we put the right systems in place to strengthen our insurance market and provide Floridians with the access to coverage and peace of mind they need for their property," Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, tweeted on Wednesday.
Though state Democratic lawmakers say not enough is being done, placing the blame on Republican leadership for not getting on top of rising costs.
"Let me just say this to make it very clear. Trickle-down economics doesn't work and neither does trickle-down property insurance relief," State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said, referring to the $3 billion the state put into a reinsurance fund for insurance companies.
10 Tampa Bay's Aaron Parseghian contributed to this report.