WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Florida’s home insurance market continues its catastrophic collapse – with new analysis showing active policies declining 78% over the past decade while the state’s insurer of last resort has exploded from 6% to 63% market share – Unlocking America’s Future is demanding Governor Ron DeSantis stop protecting property insurers and insurance lobbyists funding his political operation and start protecting Florida families facing the nation’s highest premiums.
“Florida homeowners now pay the highest insurance premiums in the nation while companies report record profits and pay executives tens of millions. These same insurance companies routinely deny claims, exploit regulatory loopholes, and abuse the legal system to extract billions in hidden profits. Governor DeSantis has the authority to stop this right now, but instead of protecting Florida families, he’s protecting the insurance companies bankrolling his political career,” said Kyle Herrig, Unlocking America’s Future spokesperson.
Background
A new Deep Sky Research analysis found that between 2014 and 2024, the total number of active home insurance policies across all Florida insurers collapsed from 3.2 million to just 710,000. During the same period, average annual premiums rose 22% after inflation to $3,454, making Florida the most expensive state in America for homeowners insurance. With the highest median home insurance premiums in the country, Florida “also has the dubious honor of having the most homeowners paying over $4,000 per year.” Meanwhile, companies like Slide Insurance have seen their profits nearly double to $201 million in 2024, while CEO Bruce Lucas and his wife pulled in over $50 million in compensation in a single year.
The crisis has left 20% of Florida homeowners without any home insurance coverage, meaning they could face devastating financial losses if their homes suffer damage from hurricanes, flooding, or other disasters. The situation has been made worse by 2023 legal reform legislation that experts conclude has “emboldened insurance companies to be aggressive with low payments or claim denials.” In 2024, 14 Florida property insurers closed more than 50% of the claims filed by homeowners without paying a penny to cover damages, while nine other Florida insurers closed between 40% and 50% of claims with no payment.
While insurance companies claim they need to raise rates because they’re losing money, a study revealed that between 2017 and 2019, Florida insurers showed a net loss of $432 million, but their affiliate companies showed a net income of $1.8 billion during the same period. This means insurance companies were generating nearly $2 billion in profits through corporate structures that were hidden from regulators and the public. Insurance companies in Florida have been known to create “sister companies,” also called affiliates, to get around the state’ s 4.5% profit cap on insurers, allowing executives to extract far more money from the system than the profit cap would otherwise allow.
For more information on Florida’s insurance crisis, please email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
