If only Ron DeSantis cared as much about his constituents as he does fighting "wokeness" and whatever other liberal Boogeyman he's decided to attack this week. Meanwhile, the insurance market continues to collapse in his state.
July 16, 2023

If only Ron DeSantis cared as much about his constituents as he does fighting "wokeness" and whatever other liberal Boogeyman he's decided to attack this week. Meanwhile, the insurance market continues to collapse in his state. As we already discussed here, Farmers Insurance informed the state it was dropping home, auto and umbrella policies across Florida.

Now AAA is following their lead:

AAA will not renew the auto and home insurance policies for some customers in Florida, joining a growing list of insurers dialing back their presence in the Sunshine State amid a growing risk of natural disasters.

"Unfortunately, Florida's insurance market has become challenging in recent years," the company said in a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch. "Last year's catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, making it more costly for insurance companies to operate."

AAA declined to say how many customers won't have their policies renewed, saying only that the change will affect "a small percentage" of policy holders.

The company is the fourth insurer over the last year say it is backing away from insuring Floridians, a sign extreme weather linked to climate change is destabilizing the insurance market. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance said it will no longer offer coverage in the state, affecting roughly 100,000 customers.

Farmers said the move will affect only company-branded policies, which make up about 30% of its policies sold in the state.

Someone needs to ask DeSantis why we should trust him to run the entire country when he can't even manage the all too real problems going on in his own state.

As Ellen discussed in our post this week:

Floridians already pay the highest property insurance rates in the country, according to the Times, as many insurers have either become insolvent or just stopped writing policies there. With thousands of Floridians about to lose coverage thanks to Farmers' departure, the rates will probably go up even higher.

So, what’s Gov. DeSantis doing to help? For one thing, he made it easier for insurance companies to make money by making it harder to sue them. And while that seems to have helped the insurers’ bottom lines, it has not reduced premiums. “The average premium in Florida is 42% higher than last year’s and miles ahead of the average premium nationwide — $1,700,” the Times says.

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