The head of Florida's large state-created insurer called it a "bit infuriating" that a U.S. Senate committee recently demanded that Citizens Property turn over information about its ability to pay claims.
Late last month, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, late last month asked Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky and Citizens for information about its ability to handle claims related to climate-created disasters such as hurricanes and whether it would need a federal bailout. The committee asked for a response by Dec. 21.
Tim Cerio, the Citizens CEO, told those assembled at the 2023 Florida Chamber Insurance Summit that "you can speculate" on why the request was made. He then added, "The bottom line is we are going to respond. We are going to be professional."
Cerio said he was concerned that the request panicked policyholders.
"We will always be able to pay claims," said Cerio, noting that Citizens can legally place surcharges on its policyholders as well as assessments on nearly all insurance policies in the state if the insurer does not have enough money in its accounts to pay off claims. And to reach that point, Cerio said it would take "one hell of a storm or series of storms."
Cerio's overall message to the summit was that the carrier was making progress in shedding policies as a handful of new companies entered the Florida market in the past year. He also said he had "cautious optimism" in the aftermath of the limits placed on lawsuits against insurance companies that were put in place by the Legislature in response to the state's turbulent insurance market.
Citizens currently has about 1.22 million policyholders. Both Cerio and Christine Ashburn, Citizens' chief of communications, legislative and external affairs, noted a trend of insurers assuming policies from the carrier — a process known as depopulation — and predicted it would continue in 2024.
Ashburn said carriers were "cherry picking" policies where they could assume risk and still make a profit, but she pointed out that the depopulation efforts were taking place in all parts of the state, including in counties where Citizens has a large policy count, such as in South Florida.
Ashburn also noted that while Citizens' share of the Florida market was roughly 17%, it was still better than the situation in 2011, when the carrier had 23% of the overall market in the state.
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