WASHINGTON, DC – In a response to Unlocking America’s Future’s recent report on Florida’s insurance crisis, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has inadvertently confirmed the most critical issue facing Florida homeowners: persistently rising insurance premiums. Despite attempts to deflect attention, OIR itself acknowledged that homeowners are paying more, with annual home insurance premiums still increasing.
Florida homeowners have seen their insurance premiums skyrocket 54% since 2019, including a 30% increase since 2021 following four major hurricanes. The crisis has become so severe that 20% of Florida homeowners don’t have home insurance at all, leaving them vulnerable to potentially devastating financial consequences from hurricane damage, or other disasters.
While OIR celebrates limitations on homeowners ability to seek legal action against insurance companies, Florida families are making impossible choices between paying unaffordable premiums or risking financial ruin by going uninsured.
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Digital Insurance: Florida regulator, advocates spar over insurance market performance
- The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), Florida’s insurance regulator, refuted claims by advocacy groups Unlocking America’s Future, the Insurance Fairness Project and Florida Watch in a recent report.
- Countering the advocates’ portrayal of homeowners insurance premium increases and increased unpaid claims lawsuits, OIR press secretary Shiloh Elliott said that the state’s property insurance market has improved because of reforms enacted by the state’s legislature in 2022.
- According to OIR, 17 new property insurers have entered the market, and about 200,000 policies were removed from Citizens, the state’s property insurer of last resort, during 2025. Citizens’ peak policy count was 1.3 million in early 2024, and a Citizens press release in December 2024 said 428,000 policies were transferred over the course of 2024.
- The advocates’ report pointed to a 54% increase in premiums since 2019, including a 30% increase since 2021 after four major hurricanes.
- In an email reply responding to the report, OIR’s Elliott stated that the report inaccurately portrays premium increases. She acknowledged that Florida’s average statewide annual premium rose from $3,773 a year ago to $3,828, but added that premium increases multiply rates by coverage amounts, and add in fees, taxes and surcharges.
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