TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Citizen's Property Insurance customers are now one step away from a double-digit premium hike.
The state-backed insurer tried to make its case for a price bump to state regulators Thursday afternoon, saying it's needed to keep the recovery of Florida's insurance market on track.
The nearly 14% hike is not something you're going to be happy about if you're a Citizens customer — but it's now closer to reality for hundreds of thousands of Floridians.
With Florida seeing some of the highest home insurance premiums in the country, a plan to raise them higher was hit with frustration at Thursday's meeting.
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"Now they want to raise them 14%, and that's going to hit us very hard for all the homeowners," James Tynan of Ponte Vedra Beach said.
Tynan told state insurance regulators that a proposed premium hike of about 14% for Citizens Property Insurance customers, like himself, is a bad idea.
His condo housing costs would go from around 30% to 40% of his budget.
"I'm hoping that they put themselves in the shoes of the associations and the homeowners — walk in those shoes for a while and then think about if 14% is the right amount," Tynan said.
Citizens, which is backed by the state, is pushing for a double-digit increase in 2025 for many of its 1.2 million policyholders.
According to Citizens' projections, average premiums would jump hundreds of dollars — including $670 in Palm Beach County.
Tim Cerio, the CEO of Citizens, said the company's current rates are competing with the private market. That could hamstring recovery in Florida, which has started to see signs of relief after years of reform.
That glut of litigation is down, plus some private providers are asking for flat rates while a few are seeking a decrease.
"The market's rates are up here," Cerio said. "We're down here. It's basically a form of subsidized insurance. We have to get our rates up. We're the state-sponsored insurer of last resort — and the insurer of last resort in any state should never be competing with the private market."
State insurance regulators still need to give final approval of the proposal — and did grill Citizens for hours about the idea. Officials are telling us they expect to have a decision by Aug. 26.
In the meantime, the public comment window is open for the public to weigh in online until Aug. 15.