Insurance Commissioner predicts ‘continued strengthening’ of insurance market in Milton’s wake

Claims of the demise of Florida’s property insurance market are exaggerated. And indeed, it’s only getting better despite a pair of recent devastating major hurricanes, due to work being done in Tallahassee.

That’s the claim from Michael Yaworsky, the head of the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), who is trumpeting “additional encouraging developments related to the state’s strengthening property insurance market” in the wake of the one-two punch of last month’s Hurricane Helene and Wednesday’s Hurricane Milton.

For starters, USAA’s commitment to the state goes beyond a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer starring in their ad campaign.

Per the email from OIR, “following a meeting between Governor Ron DeSantis, Commissioner Yaworsky and USAA representatives, USAA reaffirmed their commitment to investing in Florida’s burgeoning marketplace.”

The company is quoted as saying it is “very encouraged to see the progress toward a healthy insurance marketplace in Florida … optimistic the 2023 legislative reforms will bring about a more robust, stable environment … (and) committed to our members in Florida where we are responsibly growing and serving our membership in this critical marketplace.”

“I am extremely pleased to share these announcements, as they point to continued strengthening of Florida’s property insurance market, which is contrary to the narrative that has been circulating about our industry in recent months,” Yaworsky said. “OIR has, and will continue to work with all carriers in the state to bolster the significant progress that has been made and finish the year on a glidepath to sustained growth.”

Before Milton hit, 15 companies filed for rate decreases, and increases are lagging behind the previous year overall, at 1.6% year-over-year compared to 7% in the previous 12 months.

OIR also spotlights the ongoing depopulation of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, with more than a million policies offloaded to private insurers and more than 235,000 set for an offramp from the socialized insurer of last resort. It remains to be seen what Milton will do to that trend, of course.

Florida leaders have already bandied about potential storm impacts and their ultimate cost to stakeholders.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who governed the state until the end of 2018, remarked that insurance rates have “skyrocketed” in the last six years.

Meanwhile, DeSantis addressed the issue during a CNBC interview and a media availability.

On “Squawk Box,” he said he expected the federal flood insurance program to have the most exposure to this year’s storms, rather than the property insurance sector that deals with wind claims.

“After Ian, we did a series of major home insurance reforms to try to stabilize Florida’s market,” DeSantis said. “We actually have companies coming into Florida.”

“They’re leaving places like California,” he added, also noting the “average reinsurance rates in Florida actually went down in 2024.”

During his morning presser, DeSantis discounted a $50 billion estimate of damage from a “Wall Street analyst,” wondering how someone would know that number given it’s been “dark all day.”

Light will be shed on the impacts of the storm soon enough, including the human toll, the property impacts and the ultimate dispensation of insurers.

DeSantis said it was “too early” to guess at insurance impacts ahead of Milton. But ahead of Hurricane Helene, DeSantis said insurance in the state was in “good shape” with “57 companies filing either no increases or reduction in rates” and “people that are actually increasing their exposure in the state of Florida.”

That increase in exposure has been tested this week.

Helene took a track through one of the least populated areas in the state, though storm surge and flooding (exempt from wind policies) was an impact in the areas where Milton made its impact on Wednesday.

The Governor made news last year when he suggested, as a traveling presidential candidate giving an interview to a conservative radio talker in Boston, that homeowners should “knock on wood” and hope the state didn’t get hit by a hurricane.

This year, Floridians’ knocking on wood doesn’t seem to have helped, and those with property investments in the state can only wait and see how the industry assesses future risks given a storm that cut through population centers and left impacts, such as tornadoes, far away from the center of circulation.