R Street applauds shrinking Fla Citizens policies
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 12, 2014) – The R Street Institute welcomed today’s news that Florida’s state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has seen its policy count fall to under 1 million for the first time since 2006.
This reduction comes as a result of recent takeout efforts and legislative initiatives designed to reverse the policies set by former Governor Charlie Crist, which resulted in skyrocketing policy numbers for Florida Citizens.
“For the first time since the ill-conceived Crist insurance reforms of 2007, we are seeing Florida Citizens start to resemble its true purpose, which is an insurer of last resort,” R Street Florida Director Christian Cámara said. “These latest figures are an encouraging sign that the Legislature and leaders at Citizens are on the right path to return Citizens to that status.”
Policy counts have dropped 36 percent since 2012 and exposure has fallen more than 41 percent since 2011.
Cámara also expressed hope that this downward trend will continue.
“The management at Citizens deserves credit and I hope they capitalize on this momentum and work to ensure that more policies and risk continue being transferred from taxpayers to the private market in the coming years,” he added.
