We’re number one

Florida has the highest home insurance premiums in America. Year after year, we see 10%+ increases in home insurance prices. Tallahassee doesn't seem to understand. If a household sees its home insurance increase by $1,500, we must make significant adjustments to our household spending. Why are we number one, and how do your insurance increases compare?

Here's how the four counties our newspapers cover stack up in insurance rates:

Sumter's average property insurance bill is $1,826, or 0.4% of the average home's value. From 2020 to 2023, the average insurance premium in Sumter went up 50.5%. Ouch!

Lake County has an average property insurance bill of $2.331, or 0.6% of the house's value. In Lake, the average insurance payment increased the most of any of the four counties – 66.2% from 2020-2023.

Polk County has the highest insurance premiums of the four counties — $2,652. That's a 57.7% increase from 2020 to 2023. The typical Polk household pays 0.9% of their home's value in insurance premiums.

Highlands ranks the highest with premiums of 1% of the home value. An average premium that is higher than Sumter or Lake, and insurance premiums increased by 54.2% from 2020-2023.

Sure, home insurance premiums are up all across America, but the average is up just 33% nationwide compared to Florida's massive increase of 50-plus percent. The average household in America paid just 0.5% of the home's value in insurance premiums, compared to Polk at 0.9%, almost twice that, and Highlands at 1%, or twice the national average.

What in the world could be causing the center of the state, Highlands or Polk, to have such high rates? Why does Florida have to be number one in the cost of home insurance? Is there anything Tallahassee can do?

Here's the fascinating kicker, particularly for a free-market advocate like me: In Republican states like Florida, the government has been pro-business, favoring the insurance company and its ability to raise rates. Republican states have much higher insurance rates based on home value than Democrat-controlled states.

In Democrat-controlled states, they are pro-consumer and have held down rate increases to lower levels than Republican states. Democrat states have lower rates than Republican states because of Democrats' pro-consumer philosophy.

So, we know why Florida is number one in insurance costs. Tallahassee leans towards a pro-business approach instead of a pro-consumer approach. Both choices are, of course, valid political philosophies. How do we decide?

If you believe in the free market but your insurance premiums are up 60%from 2020-2023, is your pro-business philosophy still intact? Our government-owned Citizens Insurance is raising rates another 14% for 2025. If you could save 30% on property insurance annually for the next 10 years, would you give up on the free market and ask for pro-consumer government rulings?

Readers, what do you think? Share your thoughts.

David Dunn-Rankin is chairman of D-R Media, which owns the Highlands News-Sun and the Highlands Sun, as well as newspapers in Lake, Polk and Sumter counties. He can be reached at [email protected] .