Insurance Crisis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Progressive auto insurance policyholders in Florida should be getting a rebate or a credit due to litigation reform in the state and those who are insured by other companies should see savings in the near future. 

The My Safe Florida Home Program originally launched in 2006 and was revived in 2022 to help homeowners strengthen their properties against hurricanes. The state promotes it as a way to both protect homes and potentially lower insurance costs.

Premiums for 2026 are projected to rise at the fastest pace in at least five years.

As Florida homeowners pay comparatively higher premiums and many complain about how their damage claims are handled, policymakers and consumer watchdogs are proposing several reforms. 

In the aftermath of the 2024 hurricanes, Florida homeowners whose homes are underinsured are encountering steep costs in their efforts to rebuild.

Families across Tampa Bay are still struggling to rebuild from the hurricanes, and some are still fighting with their insurance companies as they hit one dead end after another. 

Florida made it harder to sue insurance companies and offered them more state subsidies, because they said the industry was in financial distress. 

Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez says he wants hearings in Tallahassee after a report found that property insurance providers may have misled lawmakers into thinking they were struggling financially.

The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. last week shed about 100,000 policies, with its number of customers dropping to the lowest total in nearly three years.

Florida lawmakers will soon consider a bipartisan bill that would expand windstorm coverage through Citizens Property Insurance to all property owners statewide, but the proposal is not without its critics.

Florida regulators have approved new rates for the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp., with premiums for the most-common type of homeowners policy increasing by a statewide average of 6.6 percent.

Amid efforts to shift customers into the private market, the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. started 2025 with more than 935,000 policies.

From the cost of insurance to the cost of living, lawmakers are expecting to focus on economic issues during the March legislative session. 

Some Pinellas County residents are getting a discount on their flood insurance premiums. The discount is due to the county’s recognition from FEMA for local leaders’ efforts to address flood risk.

Lawmakers in Tallahassee say they have the solution to Florida’s insurance crisis.