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Article
Courtesy of Channel 5 WPTV
By
Matt Sczesny
Published March 1, 2024
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WATCH VIDEO |
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida lawmakers seem to be moving closer to allowing
more insurance companies to make offers to Citizens' homeowner policyholders
of vacation and second homes.
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SB 1716 this week cleared the Senate's Fiscal Policy
Committee for the takeout offers.
Earlier this month the Senate's Banking and Insurance
Committee approved the measure.
The bill would allow surplus line insurers to start making
takeout offers to Citizens' policyholders who have second
and vacation homes.
Citizens has been involved for the last year with an effort
to have private insurers make these offers to try to shed
policies and its financial exposure to claims.
Surplus line insurers operate differently than traditional
or admitted insurance companies in the state and they are
regulated differently.
"These are companies headquartered and domiciled outside
of the United States," Paula Blanda, a Florida insurance
agent known as "The Insurance Lady," said. |
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Florida lawmakers seem to be moving closer to
allowing more insurance companies to make offers to certain
Citizens' policyholders.
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Blanda said one example of a surplus line insurer is Lloyd's of London.
"We often refer to our excess and surplus companies as the folks who insure
when other people won’t," she said.
The surplus line companies do have ratings, which consider things like how
much reinsurance they are carrying, she said.
If approved, the number of homes facing the surplus line takeouts is
expected to be below 100,000.
The bulk of Citizens' take-out offers are still with single-family homes in
Florida. With houses and condos, those takeout offers can be refused if the
offer is over 20% of what policyholders are currently paying with Citizens.
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