Could the Republican presidential nominee repair issues with homeowners insurance in the Sunshine State?
Since the Republican Governor and supermajority GOP Legislature can't do it, CFO Jimmy Patronis hopes that Donald Trump can.
Patronis, a potential candidate for Governor in 2026, says the "(Joe) Biden-(Kamala) Harris administration has been a complete disaster for the American people" when it comes to property coverage.
"According to the Wall Street Journal, homeowners' insurance rates have increased nationally by over 37%, with first-quarter data showing a sustained increase into this year. And with rates exceeding 56% in Illinois, 48% in California and 54% in Texas," Patronis asserted.
However, nowhere else has seen more acute insurance rate hikes than Florida, where the average policy costs homeowners roughly $1,000 a month, and where five cities in the Sunshine State lead the nation in shelling out to the insurance sector.
And though homeowners pay up, insurers often don't pay out, failing to pay in nearly 45% of cases according to Weiss Ratings, which specializes in financial instruments including insurance and other products.
Despite these dismal numbers, the CFO blames Biden and Harris for Florida's problem, and credits the Republicans running the state with "changed the laws in Florida to rein in frivolous litigation two years ago."
Since then, "eight carriers have entered the state, 13 companies have filed for rate decreases, and there has been an 800% increase in take-out activity from Citizens Insurance, Florida's carrier of last resort," Patronis writes, before suggesting one potential solution being to compel European reinsurers to "abandon ESG mandates," which he likens to the "Tower of Babel."
Patronis also pings U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who has pressed for details on Florida's insurance market, including state-run insurer of last resort Citizens, which Gov. Ron DeSantis has said is "not solvent."
The Rhode Island Democrat "has fired off letter-after-letter to Florida about climate change affecting the Florida insurance market, while failing to send such nasty-grams to California and Illinois where premium increases have been far worse," Patronis notes, before offering "help" to Trump's future "administration of patriots" in solving the issue.
Ironically, the biggest rate hike year over year in the DeSantis era was between 2019 and 2020, before Biden assumed office.
In an added irony, when DeSantis challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2023, he took a remarkably detached view of the state's insurance crisis. During a 2023 radio interview with a Boston host, he suggested homeowners should "knock on wood" and hope the state didn't get hit by a storm.
It's unclear if Trump believes this is a national issue, based on his excoriation of DeSantis' "total sellout to the insurance companies" after last year's reform legislation.
"DeSanctimonious is delivering the biggest insurance company bailout in global history. This is a gift to insurance companies and a disaster for the people of Florida," Trump said. "He's also crushed Florida homeowners whose houses were destroyed in the hurricane. They have been absolutely decimated. They're getting pennies on the dollar."
"The worst insurance scam in the entire country with the highest rates in the entire country. That's Florida," Trump added.
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