Florida Approves More Citizens' Policy Removals

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced the removal of up to 110,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens) beginning Nov. 14. Six companies, named below, are involved with this round of removals.

Companies are approved by the office to remove a specified number of policies after demonstrating that they have the financial capacity to absorb the number of policies requested.

“We have heard a lot of concerns about Citizens growing too large,” said McCarty. “To address that issue, the Office is working with these companies to help facilitate the reduction of policies in Citizens. I am pleased to see so many Citizens policies being moved into the private market.”

“When I recently met with Commissioner McCarty, one of the issues we discussed was the importance of the Citizens’ take-out program,” said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, a member of the incoming Florida House of Representatives leadership team. “It is a necessary measure as we seek to bring private capital into Florida’s insurance marketplace.

“The Office’s review process is focused on consumer protection. And I would encourage consumers to carefully review insurance documents they receive and to call their agent, Citizens or the new company if they have any questions.”

Citizens’ policyholders have the right to refuse a take-out offer, but many of the last 300,000 policyholders this year have agreed to be removed to the private sector. The removals scheduled to begin Friday could increase that number to over 400,000.

"Last year, my homeowners’ policy was moved from Citizens to one of the take-out insurers," said Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg. "This year, facing a catastrophic loss, the take-out company has thus far handled the situation professionally, fairly and quickly."

The following companies will participate in the Nov. 14 take-out:

• American Integrity Insurance Co. of Florida: Approved to remove up to 75,000 policies total; 42,000 removed to date; will remove up to 15,000 more on Nov. 14.
• Florida Peninsula Insurance Co.: Approved to remove up to 80,000 policies total; 19,011 removed to date; will remove up to 25,000 on Nov. 14.
• HomeWise Preferred Insurance Co.: Approved to remove up to 95,000 policies total; 48,569 removed to date; will remove up to 17,000 on Nov. 14.
• Southern Oak Insurance Co.: Approved to remove up to 75,000 policies total; 19,629 removed to date; will remove up to 20,000 on Nov. 14.
• Northern Capital Insurance Co.: Approved to remove up to 20,000 policies total; 10,821 removed to date; will remove up to 6,500 on Nov. 14.
• Magnolia Insurance Co.: Approved to remove up to 120,000 policies total; 91,548 removed to date; will remove up to 28,452 on Nov. 14.