After a triple hit to the state from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, Floridians are working to recover. But for many that’s brought up questions about property insurance--ranging from how they can get their claims paid to what to do if they don’t have it.
Shawnda Palmer lives in Perry, Florida. Last year the town not only got slammed by Hurricane Idalia, but its mill – the main source of livelihood there – closed down. This year, Hurricanes Debby and then Helene hit the area. Palmer doesn’t have property insurance, which she says is too expensive for many of the people who live there.
“Nobody does in Perry," she said, "because like I say, the main sources of money there is closed down, and like all of us little people, we don’t have that kind of money to have homeowner insurance. It is outrageous!”
Palmer is talking on the phone while driving home to Perry after Hurricane Helene. She says she got her home through her family.
“Mine was handed down, that’s how I have one, and that’s how most people have one," she said. "They were handed down or owned by their families for years, and they growed up in ‘em and stuff like that.”
Experts say a larger number of uninsured homes in rural areas like Perry often means a slower recovery time following storms. But Palmer is confident the community can do it.
“Everybody loves Perry that’s from there," said Palmer. "I was born there, raised there…They’ll all get together, everybody will pull together and rebuild everything that needs to be done. So, it don’t matter, we can be targeted however long and everybody’s always going to rebuild. They’re not going anywhere.”
Even for those with insurance, recovery still is a long way off.
As of Thursday, the state Office of Insurance Regulation was reporting insurance claims for Milton nearing 200,000 and $2.3 billion dollars in estimated insured losses. For Helene, the losses are estimated at $1.3 billion dollars. And for Hurricane Debby, it’s $131 million.
State insurance officials have issued orders to protect policyholders impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They apply to all insurers in the state and policyholders in most counties. The order extends grace periods for any policy, provision, notice, correspondence, or law that imposes a time limit.
And it prohibits the cancellation or nonrenewal of a policy in an impacted area, except at the written request of the policyholder. Meanwhile, the state’s so-called insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, says it remains in good shape.
“We’re here for our policyholders, we’re in strong financial shape, and we will be there when they need us," said Michael Peltier, a spokesperson with Citizens Property Insurance.
The company currently has more than 1.2 million policyholders, but Peltier says Citizens has the financial resources on hand to handle claims, including Milton.
The state-backed Citizens was set up in a way that will always work, because the insurer can put an extra charge on the insurance policies of most Floridians to help it cover its costs.
“If we exhaust our reserves, our reinsurance coverage and other protections -- the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, for example -- we are required to levy surcharges on our policyholders first," he said. "And if there’s still a deficit, then we are required to levy assessments on all Florida insurance consumers – or most of them, anyway. Auto, boat, property owners, that sort of thing.”
Peltier says that while Citizens will always be able to pay claims, the larger it gets, the more it will run the risk of having to levy assessments on not only its own policyholders, but on Florida insurance consumers who aren’t even Citizens policyholders.
“Our board of governors, our CEO, the governor and other folks are trying to do the best we can to minimize the risk that we would have to do that,” said Peltier.
Citizens Property Insurance is working to reduce the number of people who depend on the state-backed insurance. Governor Ron DeSantis and the Legislature have made efforts to stabilize Florida’s insurance market, in part by reducing the ability to sue for claims. But it’s unclear whether those changes are having an impact.
