TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Regulators have approved proposals by four private property insurers to remove as many as 47,000 policies from the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in March.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky last week signed orders that are part of what is known as a “depopulation” program to shift policies from Citizens into the private market. The orders will allow Southern Oak Insurance Co. to assume up to 20,000 policies from Citizens, American Traditions Insurance Co. and Slide Insurance Co. to each assume up to 10,000 policies and People’s Trust Insurance Co. to assume up to 7,000 policies.
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The actual number of policies that will shift to the private insurers likely will be lower, based on what has happened in the past in the depopulation program.
Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, ballooned during the past three years to become the state’s largest property insurer because of financial troubles in the private market.
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Citizens had nearly 1.225 million policies as of Dec. 22, the most-recent data posted on its website. Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing decreases because of the depopulation program. State leaders want to shrink Citizens, at least in part because of financial risks if major hurricanes hit the state.
The program led to policies moving to private insurers in October, November and December, and additional policy shifts have been approved for this month and February.
The numbers of companies and numbers of policies approved for assumptions each month varies.
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