And the last shall be first.

Suddenly, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state "insurer of last resort," is the first choice of many homeowners – even when they can get coverage in the voluntary market.

For years, Citizens was the last place people wanted to go for homeowner insurance because it carried the onus of high prices. Citizens, the state's largest insurer, is required by law to charge rates higher than the top 20 insurers in a given region. The working theory was that this would ensure that Citizens would not compete with the voluntary market.

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