Editorial: Halt the headlong rush to dump Floridians from property insurance coverage [Orlando Sentinel]

If there’s one thing Floridians hate to think about, it’s property insurance. For those not actively involved in claims, a letter in the mail usually signals one of two things: Either their premiums are going up — or somebody is trying to scam or solicit them.

For customers of Citizens Property Insurance, Florida’s publicly owned insurer of last resort, there’s a third — potentially even worse — option. Inside bland white envelopes that arrived at Florida households across the state last month, there’s a letter from the publicly owned insurer, “congratulating” them on being selected to be dumped from the Citizens rolls. For some of them, the exile is forcible. Others can choose to stay with Citizens, which often offers rates lower than comparable market premiums. But for all of them — including some whose only options are thousands of dollars more expensive — they lose the right to stay with Citizens if they don’t respond by Oct. 10.

It’s an extension from a previous deadline and we have to give Citizens’ employees credit: They’ve been doing everything they can to reach out to affected consumers via followup letters, emails and calls, but lawmakers didn’t give them funding for a real public-information campaign. Approximately 60,000 haven’t responded, and another 153,000 customers are in the process of being notified. Still, it hasn’t been hard to find Citizens’  customers who had no idea this was going on. Legislative leaders must work with Citizens officials to find a way to allow residents to appeal their forced ousters, particularly those who meet the criteria to stay with the public agency but don’t understand they need to take action if they want to renew their Citizens coverage.

At least one member of Citizens’ board of governors, Ormond Beach insurance executive Charlie Lydecker, says he thinks the insurer should give Citizens customers more time. We hope the other governing board members are as willing to ease the deadline.

They must make sure everyone gets a chance to choose.

Outrage and chaos

The most frustrating thing about this entire mess is that the fundamental principle makes sense: Citizens is supposed to be the insurer of last resort, not the gold standard of affordable, accessible coverage. That’s because it’s backed by every insurance-policy owner in Florida — and ultimately, potentially, state taxpayers.

So when the number of policies under Citizens started to soar, lawmakers became alarmed. At the end of August, there were nearly 1.4 million policies in force. That’s more than three times the number of policies that Citizens was carrying on August 31, 2019. A move to “depopulate” Citizens could greatly reduce the potential burden on all Floridians.

Thus, getting more Floridians covered by private companies makes sense. But forcing them into the arms of companies they’ve never heard of, based on a form they didn’t realize they had a deadline to respond to, is a recipe for outrage and chaos.

The state is already hearing the roars of Florida policy holders who have figured out what’s happening. After they deciphered their letters — many of which went out later than they were supposed to —  many realized they aren’t able to keep Citizens no matter what. That’s because they are being offered policies that are no more than 20% higher than the rate Citizens was going to offer them at renewal time. They have no choice.

But another group of policy holders has even more cause for anger and confusion. Under state law, the insurance companies participating in the “depop” process can also select policy owners and target them with offers that far exceed the 20% cap. But if those customers don’t respond by the Oct. 10 deadline, their policies are also automatically switched to new private insurers.

Sound the alarm

We don’t understand why Florida lawmakers thought that was a good idea. Letting insurance companies select their customers, then determine how much they are going to pay for a product that many are not allowed to go without? It’s no wonder those property owners are bellowing as if they’re about to be held up at gunpoint. They are.

Though we’re running out of ways to say “But wait, it gets worse,” that’s nothing compared to the fury and desperation that will be unleashed when the Floridians who remained oblivious throughout this process learn, after the fact, that they have been switched. Because there’s good reason to believe that many Florida property owners won’t even glance at the envelopes that carry the bad news. They’re mostly bland white, with no wording describing what’s inside.

Gov. Ron DeSantis or Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis should insist the Citizens Board extend the deadline again. As Lydecker points out, there is no regulation or rule that sets a hard deadline for people who want to stay with Citizens and are eligible to do so.

Then state leaders should look for any way possible to give Floridians a heads-up that their monthly budgets could take a big hit soon — especially those who have the option of remaining with Citizens if they act quickly though. Hire skywriters. Rent billboards. Heck, invade the temple of the holy — and no, we’re not talking about church bulletins (though that wouldn’t be a bad idea, either). We’re talking about hastily taped public service announcements meant to air before the biggest TV audiences over the fast-approaching weekend. We’re talking about football.

Yes. It’s that serious.

We hope DeSantis, Patronis and other state officials feel the same way. Otherwise, things could get ugly very fast for Floridians who were unprepared for the financial firestorm that’s about to erupt. This is an emergency, albeit a human-caused one, and it should be treated that way.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Send letters to [email protected].

Box information:

Citizens policies by county

Brevard: 48,731

Lake County: 13,155

Orange: 48,374

Osceola: 19,498

Seminole: 18,769

Volusia: 20,472

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