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Florida insurance commissioner says market showing improvement; $14.5 million returned to policyholders
Summary
Insurance Commissioner Michael Jaworski told the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee that Florida's property market is stabilizing, citing fewer rate pressures, large private-market takeouts from Citizens and $14.5 million in restitution returned to consumers; he urged more mitigation credits and continued oversight.
Insurance Commissioner Michael Jaworski told the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee that Florida's property and casualty market has improved since the crisis years, but that consumers and regulators must remain vigilant.
"Florida is now the seventh largest insurance market in the world," Jaworski said, and he reported roughly 7,610,000 residential policies in force and an average admitted homeowners premium of $2,755. He described a recent trend of filings that has produced a 30-day average homeowners rate change of -6.6%, and a one-year glide-path trend now near -1.5%.
Jaworski also summarized enforcement activity since recent reforms: "we've conducted over 100 examinations, over 300 investigations, and returned 14,500,000 to consumers who were wronged," he said, adding that fines and regulatory penalties are increasing and that fines are directed to the state Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund. He told members he would supply office-level follow-up on the average restitution amount and counts on request.
Why it matters: Florida's insurance market size and recent takeout activity by private carriers affect millions of homeowners and influence premium affordability across the state. Jaworski said the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved more than 1,550,000 takeout requests from Citizens in the most recent period and described the statutorily required "comparable coverage" standard that can keep a consumer with Citizens if private offers are 20% or more expensive.
Jaworski urged continued emphasis on mitigation and building codes. He highlighted "code plus" credits and said OIR is close to releasing a revised mitigation-credit form (1802) to better reflect home hardening in premiums. "If you have a fully fortified home ... the savings is up to 86%," he said, citing an analysis for Palm Beach County as an example.
Members pressed Jaworski on enforcement, the takeout process and whether reduced reinsurance costs will reach consumers. Jaworski said the takeout pace should slow as the private market normalizes, that Citizens is becoming more actuarially sound in some areas, and that OIR is tracking churn back to Citizens and insurer stability triggers.
What remains unresolved: Jaworski said some policyholder-protection statutes and examination triggers could be streamlined and that OIR is still investigating offers into Citizens that may not meet the statutory comparable-coverage standard. He asked the Legislature for continued resources to maintain oversight capacity.
The committee did not take formal legislative action on the presentation; members requested additional data and Jaworski agreed to follow up with offices.
