Citizens announces new insurance rates following AOB reform

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has announced the 2019 personal and commercial property insurance rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens).

Citizens was created by the Florida Legislature in 2002 as a non-profit, tax-exempt, government entity with a goal of providing insurance solutions to Florida home, business, condominium and property owners who are unable to find property insurance coverage in the private market. The organization operates according to statutory requirements by the Florida Legislature and a Plan of Operation approved by the Florida Financial Services Commission.

Following the assignment of benefits (AOB) reforms that were signed into Florida law in May, the OIR revised Citizen’s 2019 rates to reflect both the expected impact and feedback from policyholders and other interested parties. Prior to the reforms, AOB fraud led to to less coverage and higher rates for Florida property owners.

“We are pleased to see that AOB reforms passed by the legislature are already having a positive effect on rates. We will be closely monitoring new rate filings to ensure that costs savings are passed along to Florida consumers,” Insurance Commission David Altmaier said in a statement.

The new rates for Citizens personal and commercial property accounts are expected to go into effect on December 1, 2019. The table below shows the original and post-AOB reform requested rates, and the estimated statewide average rate changes for each line of business individually, as established by the OIR:

Related: Florida state-backed Citizens Property pitches insurance rate hikes