A broken insurance market threatens Florida and its star governor
What may be Florida’s most destructive hurricane is threatening to swamp the state’s property insurance market, posing a stiff challenge to a star governor with national political aspirations.
Even before Hurricane Ian made landfall on Wednesday, the state’s property insurance market was buckling. Six companies had already fallen into insolvency this year as underwriting losses exceeded $1bn for the second consecutive year. Insurers, in turn, have been exiting the state and curtailing renewals, leaving homeowners with dwindling options for coverage and soaring prices.
“The homeowners insurance market in Florida has already seen escalating losses, increases in premiums, and insolvencies before there was a hurricane. Now with Ian, especially if this storm leads to litigation, it makes me wonder if the market can sustain this,” said Nancy Watkins, a principal and consulting actuary at Milliman.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Joshua Chaffin
