Florida homeowners take major hit in crumbing property insurance market
If you have Farmers Insurance you might want to start looking for a new property insurance provider.
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Today, the insurance group announced it’s ending three policies in Florida: residential, auto and umbrella.
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You can already see those changes online. If you type in a zip code from Jacksonville on the Farmers Insurance website, it will pop up to say: “Sorry, we don’t offer insurance in your area.”
This move could affect an estimated 100,000 policies.
Farmers’ decision comes 9 months after two major hurricanes cost the state billions of dollars in damages.
Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani (D) from Orlando said Florida is a high-risk place to live and legislators have been dropping the ball.
“It’s almost like you’re treating a cancer patient as if your’re treating the flu, Eskamani said. “I mean, the problems in Florida are so severe that you need major government intervention to help and so far, my Republican colleagues have not been willing to do that.”
Related Story: Insurance company pulls out of Florida; 100K policyholders affected
State lawmakers held a special session in December to address property insurance issues and Eskamani says she hasn’t seen any improvements.
“The options have become more narrow, the costs have gone up,” Eskamani said. “And so you really have to give Floridians a life vest to survive.”
Thousands of Floridians are scrambling to find new policies.
Action News Jax reached out to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. In an emailed statement, the office said the notice they received from Farmers Insurance is marked as a “trade secret.” They added that they are, “committed to doing everything possible to ensure consumers have coverage available.”
Related Story: Florida Democrats’ efforts to guarantee immediate home insurance relief fails at special session
State law requires Farmers Insurance to give 90 days’ notice to the office before it can inform customers that policies won’t be renewed.
Former State Senator Jeff Brandes (R) says stabilizing Florida’s insurance market is going to take time.
“I think this is a portion of worse, I think there’s still so there’s probably still two or three other carriers that will not complete this year cycle,” Brands said.
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When severe storms hit Florida in 2004, several insurance companies left before eventually making their way back several years later.
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