“The number of policies that will ultimately leave Citizens will be substantially lower than the number of policies OIR has approved for takeout,” Citizen spokesman Michael Peltier noted in an email Wednesday. “That has always been the case but has become more noticeable over the past few takeouts.”
In 2012 Gov. Rick Scott wanted to shrink the 1.5 million Citizens policies and put more homeowners under private insurers. The goal was to reduce risk for policyholders across the state who were paying added assessments whenever a major hurricane came through.
Created as the insurer of last resort, President and CEO Barry Gilway projects that the reduction will eventually leave Citizens with about 450,000 of the least-insurable policies. To date, 128,133 policies have been removed through the take-out process this year from a total of 713,336 available. The low turnover is due to private insurers choosing the least-risky policies.
In October, 279,357 personal-residential policies and 1,500 commercial-residential policies will be offered to the seven insurers.
On Aug. 25 Citizens Board of Governors will propose a plan to state regulators for an average 3.2 percent increase for next year. Manufactured home owners who live inland will receive a better rate. ##
(Photo credit: fotosearch–hurricane protection panels)
