Citizens Adds Policies Before Storm Season
Before June 1, Citizens added nearly 5K policies to its rolls, though private insurers had been taking out policies in the weeks prior the start of hurricane season.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. added nearly 5,000 policies before the annual hurricane season started June 1. Citizens had 1,193,484 policies on May 31, up from 1,188,557 policies a week earlier but down from 1,201,536 policies two weeks earlier, according to Citizens’ data.
The drop during the week that ended May 24 came as three private insurers were able to assume Citizens policies through what is known as a “depopulation” program. Under the depopulation program, private insurers receive approval from state regulators to take batches of Citizens policies.
Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become the state’s largest carrier in recent years as private companies dropped policies and raised rates because of financial problems.
Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of the depopulation program.
State leaders have long sought to reduce the size of Citizens, at least in part, because of financial risks if Florida gets hit by a major hurricane or multiple hurricanes. But policy takeouts are not expected in the coming months as insurers stay away from additional risks during six-month hurricane season.
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