TALLAHASSEE – Last week, Weiss Ratings released a new report highlighting the failure of insurance-industry backed changes in Florida that are harming policyholders while corporate profits skyrocket and the number of lawsuits continue to rise.
Following two major hurricanes making landfall in Florida in 2024, insurance corporations have closed almost 47% of claims without payment. This is leading to Floridians aggressively fighting back to get the money they are owed after faithfully paying their premiums, increasing the amount of lawsuits filed after claims closed without payment from insurers to almost 13%.
A recent report from The Washington Post highlighted how these changes are hurting Florida homeowners, noting that “The number of lawsuits filed by policyholders whose insurance claims had been denied stayed high, topping all other states, according to data obtained by The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Floridians have continued to pay some of the highest insurance premiums in the country.”
“For years, private insurance corporations have been price-gouging hardworking families and seniors while failing to pay out legitimate claims after natural disasters,” said Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo. “After Governor Ron DeSantis and legislative leadership did the bidding of the insurance industry to pass policies that made it harder to hold them accountable, this new data shows Floridians are fed up with private corporations failing to uphold their promises in times of need. Policyholders in our state deserve real leadership that lowers costs and safeguards families and seniors from predatory private insurance corporations so they have the protection and peace of mind they’ve paid for.”
Despite claims by Republican legislative leadership and Governor Ron DeSantis that the slate of insurance-industry backed reforms passed in 2022 would decrease lawsuits, thus leading to lower costs for Floridians, premiums have increased by an average of 34% across the state in the last three years while lawsuits are on the rise.
This new data comes after reports that insurance corporations have been hiding their profits using affiliate companies, stronger and more frequent storms due to the climate crisis are making it harder for Floridians to find affordable coverage leading to the state leading the nation in non-renewals of policies, and executives are raking in multi-million dollar compensation packages while hardworking families and seniors struggle to pay their premiums.“It is imperative that we hold private insurance corporations accountable to pay Florida families what they are owed when disaster strikes,” stated Florida Watch Executive Director Natasha Sutherland. “While legislative leadership has focused on blaming Floridians trying to get the payouts they deserve in a time of crisis, private insurance corporations have generated massive profits and paid their executives lavish sums of money while denying claims for working families and seniors trying to recover. Floridians deserve to know that their family’s futures and livelihoods will be protected, no matter what the weather brings, but the policies passed in recent years have just made it harder to navigate through the storm.”