Screenshot of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation's website.
With private insurers dropping customers and raising rates, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. saw its number of policies increase about 50% in 2022.
Citizens had 1,145,178 policies as of Dec. 30, 2022, up from 759,305 at the end of 2021, according to the Citizens website. Citizens also added about 19,000 policies in December.
Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort and is something of a measuring stick for the health of the private insurance market. Citizens had 542,739 policies at the end of 2020 — meaning its policy count has more than doubled over the past two years.
During a special legislative session last month, lawmakers passed wide-ranging insurance changes that included trying to reduce litigation and help steer policies out of Citizens into the private market. Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway has long blamed heavy litigation for many of the industry's problems.
"This is historic legislation," Gilway said last week on The Florida Insurance Roundup podcast hosted by insurance lobbyist Lisa Miller. "It's going to have a huge impact on this marketplace going forward."
Gilway, who announced after the special session that he plans to retire, said he thinks the legislation will help draw new companies into the market, as they will not be stuck with past losses and will be able to charge actuarially sound rates. He expressed confidence that companies will take policies out of Citizens — though that might not come until late 2023 after the threat of hurricane damage subsides.
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