New rule could make it harder to join Citizens Insurance

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- As homeowners are getting their insurance policies situated, new rules are coming that could make it harder to sign on with Citizens Property Insurance -- which is supposed to be the state's insurer of last resort.

Hurricane season begins Saturday.

Saturday also marks five years since Kassy Brewer and her husband moved into their dream home in St. Petersburg and signed on with Citizens.

"By the second year, we got a notice that the house was above the level they would insure it for," she said. "We were dropped."

So they signed on with another insurance company.

"They, unfortunately, went under," Brewer said.

Then, she switched to a third company.

Brewer had her home insured by them for two years before seeing a rate increase.

That's when she and her husband went on the hunt for a fourth insurance company.

"So we've gone through four companies in the five years we've owned our home," Brewer said.

It now costs her $20,000 in total for flood and homeowners insurance.

It's a story all too common in the state of Florida, and one of the reasons Citizens has grown to a size it was never intended to be.

Starting July 1, insurance agents will need three appointments, instead of just one, to move a customer to Citizens.

"Citizens is saying, hey you need to have three private market alternatives you can present to a client of additional carrier options to be able to write business with Citizens," HH Insurance President Jake Holehouse said.

So what does that really mean?

Holehouse said if he has a private market option that is 50% more expensive, the customer can go to Citizens.

But if it's within 20% of the private market premium, the customer is required to not sign on with Citizens because it is designed to be the insurer of last resort.

"A little bit of deter people from going to Citizens, but I think what it also is, is to give the customer fair representation in the marketplace," he said.

Holehouse said from an insurance standpoint, there are two things to do to prepare for hurricane season.

The first is homeowners should email themselves a copy of their policy.

He said every homeowner should also take a video walking through his or her house showing all of the belongings inside.