How prepared is Floridas property insurance market for a major hurricane?
Hurricane season officially will begin Tuesday, and Florida’s state-run property insurance programs are better prepared this year than in the past. Private insurers are largely stable, but there are questions about whether several can handle the impact if major hurricanes strike the state. The state’s insurance programs, Citizens Property Insurance and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, will be able to borrow the money needed to pay claims if the state experiences an active hurricane season. But the financial problems some private insurers say they are facing have led legislators and regulators to support an insurer-backed bill, SB 2044, that would strengthen insurers by allowing them to increase rates and reduce some claims-related costs.
