SunSentinel.com
By Julie Patel
October 6, 2011
Citizens Property Insurance, the state’s largest home insurer, is getting even bigger.
You can blame South Florida and the Tampa area for most of the growth, Sharon Binnun, Citizens’ chief financial officer, told a panel of Senators this week. “Of the new business coming in…42 percent is Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and 29 percent” is Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties, she said. “We have a lot of geographic concentration” in those areas.
“I thought initially that I would have to thank Sen. [Alan] Hays for all of his constituents subsidizing my constituents on the coast, then I saw your charts and I know that Sen. [Mike] Fasano needs to thank Sen. Hays for all those subsidies,” Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said at the Senate’s insurance committee meeting Tuesday. Hays is a Republican from Umatilla and Fasano a Republican from New Port Richey.
The question often surfaces as lawmakers prepare to draft legislation to improve the state’s insurance market: Are South Floridians disproportionately burdening Citizens?
Citizens’ own data shows more policies come from South Florida – 45 percent from Broward, Miami Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties – and 52 percent of Citizens’ exposure to losses is concentrated in the counties. But South Floridians also pay 58 percent of the premiums Citizens collects.
Still, nearly all Floridians would be affected if a major storm wiped out Citizens’ reserves because they would pay fees to support the insurer. Hays said if there’s enough interest among lawmakers, he would propose a bill similar to legislation he floated the past few years to shrink Citizens dramatically by raising its rates.
