Related: News organizations publish Florida\u2019s secret examination of insurer profits<\/a><\/p>\nThe state\u2019s narrative isn\u2019t entirely baseless. Five years after complaining they were on the brink of collapse in Florida\u2019s uniquely punishing, hurricane-driven environment, nearly 90 percent of property insurance companies operating here were profitable last year, the news organizations\u2019 examination shows.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s litigation reforms have slashed Florida\u2019s nation-leading proportion of claims-based lawsuits by over 30%, and 20 new insurers have joined the market, increasing competition.<\/p>\n
But skepticism about those developments runs deep in the survey. Even as the GOP agenda has moved on to property tax reform with a tax-slashing measure on the November ballot, survey respondents by a 63-36 margin say property insurance remains the bigger problem.<\/p>\n
Many issues remain. A previously suppressed state study conducted in 2021 and 2022 \u2014 uncovered by the news organizations\u2019 reporting and detailed in stories last week and again today \u2014 indicates that dozens of Florida property insurers earned profits they didn\u2019t publicly disclose as lawmakers considered their need for relief. Yet little has been done to improve transparency.<\/p>\n
Upcoming stories in the news organizations\u2019 examination will show:<\/p>\n
How insurers have quietly cut back what your policy covers, leaving homeowners paying more for significantly less protection.
\nHow a wave of new \u201ccustomer-owned\u201d Florida insurance companies \u2014 making up more than half of recent entries to the market \u2014 funnel hefty management fees and high interest payments to private investors while shifting risks to their policyholders.
\nHow premiums have increased faster than inflation since the reforms, even as actual payouts to policyholders lagged behind those rising costs.
\nHow Floridians who seek compensation for damages from their insurers are seeing their claims rejected more often, in the wake of the sharp new limits on their ability to sue.<\/p>\n
More Florida customers dissatisfied<\/p>\n
Count Brandon Reich among Florida\u2019s unhappy property insurance customers.<\/p>\n
His home on the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers Shores was inundated by 3.5 feet of water during Hurricane Ian, in addition to suffering extensive wind damage. But when his insurer\u2019s adjuster arrived to assess the damage, Reich was told that most of the damage wasn\u2019t covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance companies, by and large, their first line of thinking is, \u2018Reject your claim,\u2019 and hope you go away,\u201d Reich said recently. \u201cAnd the (policyholders) who, you know, have too much going on or aren\u2019t informed, they just give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Reich, many respondents to the UNF poll said the insurance premiums they pay to own a home in Florida often do not buy satisfaction.<\/p>\n
![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tfl-l-insurance-project-reich-01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Mike Stocker\/Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n
Brandon Reich displays records related to the repair of his hurricane-damaged Fort Myers home on Friday, August 21, 2026. He has been contesting costs with his insurance company and doing construction on the property since Hurricane Ian in 2022. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
About 22% of Florida homeowners said they were strongly satisfied with their insurer, and just over half said they were somewhat satisfied. That might sound like a degree of contentment, but it compares poorly with the nationwide results in the 2025 Consumer Reports survey of 23,917 U.S policyholders, which show 54% of policyholders across the nation said they were strongly satisfied.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the scale, 22% of Florida policyholders said they were \u201csomewhat\u201d or \u201cstrongly\u201d dissatisfied with their insurers, compared to 13% of national respondents who answered similarly.<\/p>\n
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The same contrast extends to claims-handing, with just 32% of Florida respondents strongly satisfied with how their insurer handled their most recent claim, half the 64% reporting a high level of satisfaction in the Consumer Reports nationwide survey.<\/p>\n
About one-fifth of Florida policyholders said they had filed a claim in the past five years.<\/p>\n
Asked to comment on the survey\u2019s findings, Mark Friedlander, senior director of media relations for the industry-funded Insurance Information Institute, said its results \u201cappear to be intentionally skewed toward an anti-insurance industry false narrative.\u201d He added that the survey does not \u201creflect the reality of a vastly improved Florida marketplace, which most consumers are benefitting from.\u201d<\/p>\n
The claims process was what frustrated Reich. Like most survey respondents, he was not specifically insured for flood, saying he found the coverage too expensive. And that turned out to be a major gap in his policy.<\/p>\n
When his property insurer\u2019s adjuster showed up, \u201cthe guy basically walked around the house and goes, \u2018Oh, this is flood. No, this is flood. Sorry, this is flood.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Their insurer paid only $30,000 to repair roof damage, \u201cwhich wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d Reich said. This year, Reich and his husband finally saved enough money to replace their roof.<\/p>\n
The coverage shortfall forced the couple to complete a majority of repairs on their own. They hauled soaked furniture to the curb, tore out and replaced damaged drywall, wheeled dehumidifiers into the house to prevent mold growth, raised their home\u2019s windows, storm-proofed their garage, built a cement wall around their swimming pool and installed flood gates from the wall to their house.<\/p>\n
They also had to replace their cars, which were totaled.<\/p>\n
The ordeal carved a major hole in the couples\u2019 finances, Reich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Ian, we were basically debt free,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t owe anything on our house, we didn\u2019t owe anything on our cars, we didn\u2019t have credit card debt. And now we have, you know, about $130,000 in credit card debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Not very confident\u2019 insurer could pay claim<\/p>\n
The survey revealed sharp contrasts in satisfaction, confidence and attitudes between homeowners covered by well-known national companies and the many policyholders who are customers of Florida-focused firms. Those results reflect a complicated and difficult reality in Florida\u2019s insurance marketplace.<\/p>\n
Beginning after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and continuing to this day, smaller companies sprang up and took on big roles here, as national insurers pulled back rather than risk the financial catastrophe of another huge, damaging tropical system. The state then created the publicly-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. as its \u201cinsurer of last resort\u201d to cover coastal properties shunned by private market insurers, and it too became a major player.<\/p>\n
Today, about two-thirds of Florida homeowners trust companies many had never heard of before to safeguard their homes and possessions \u2013 while paying thousands of dollars each year for the privilege. Those companies rely on the resources of international finance firms called \u201creinsurers\u201d and the state\u2019s multi-billion dollar catastrophe fund to back their policies, rather than spreading risk across a national market using their own substantial reserves, as more traditional insurers do.<\/p>\n
The survey quantifies the sense of unease and frustration many customers of these new-wave insurers feel.<\/p>\n
Florida customers of national carriers, including State Farm, USAA, AAA, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, Progressive and Geico, were about twice as likely to say they were \u201cstrongly satisfied\u201d with their insurer. Thirty-four percent voiced that sentiment compared to just 16 percent with Florida-focused companies.<\/p>\n
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Even more striking were the disparities when respondents were asked how confident they were that their insurer would be able to cover necessary repairs if their homes were severely damaged. About 36% of homeowners with national insurers said they were \u201cvery confident,\u201d compared to 17% of customers with Florida-focused insurers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get offers from names I\u2019ve never heard before,\u201d said retired engineer Robert Harris, who has been with State Farm since he moved from Alabama to the Titusville area 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, like Flamingo Insurance. I\u2019m making these up, OK? Sunshine State Insurance. Blah blah blah. And you think, \u2018Well, if we have a hurricane, is there going to be any money coming from them?\u2019 At least I feel with State Farm, there might be a fight but you\u2019ll get something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premiums up 50% or more<\/p>\n
Floridians have long endured some of the nation\u2019s highest home insurance costs \u2014 the price for many of living in hurricane country. And, survey respondents said, they just keep going up.<\/p>\n
Only a handful of policyholders said they have escaped insurance cost increases over the past five years. Just 8% said their premiums have decreased (4%) or stayed the same (4%) during that time.<\/p>\n
Nearly half of the Florida respondents \u2013 47% \u2013 said their premiums increased by 50% or more in that time period.<\/p>\n
Across the nation, increases of 50% or more over the last five years were reported by just 2% of policyholders, according to the 2025 Consumer Reports survey.<\/p>\n
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Patti Kanegae, a former resident of Largo, said her bill to insure her older home there doubled over four years, from $2,000 to $4,000, despite improvements to protect it against damaging hurricane winds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had done everything we could,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cWe fixed the roof. We had new air conditioning. We put new windows in.\u201d None of it was enough.<\/p>\n
The UNF survey indicates premium increases have continued into the last year, with more than one-third citing hikes of 25% or more even as state officials claim premiums overall have begun to drop. The state\u2019s data reflects industry-wide averages, not individual experiences as the survey does.<\/p>\n
The survey also suggests that substantial premium increases await those who file claims.<\/p>\n
Among homeowners who pursued at least one claim, 53% said their premiums increased by half or more over the past five years.<\/p>\n
Arthur Gallagher, a Clewiston homeowner, filed a water damage claim after his dog damaged an outdoor spigot by pulling on the attached hose. Water flowed inside the building, damaging floors and molding.<\/p>\n
After giving him $2,000 to make repairs, his insurer raised his premium to more than $6,000, he said. He was able to get it reduced to around $4,000 by agreeing to eliminate water damage coverage from his policy, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019d known then, I would have never made the claim against them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Premiums $3,000 a year or more<\/p>\n
Florida homeowners\u2019 insurance burden largely depends on where in Florida those homeowners live, the survey indicated.<\/p>\n
Simply put, residents of storm-plagued South Florida, where the population is particularly concentrated on the coast, pay the most and see the biggest increases, while North and Central Florida residents suffer relatively less.<\/p>\n
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Lake County resident Brian Hodson has lived that story.<\/p>\n
In 2021, insurance cost increases drove Hodson and his wife out of a manufactured home they owned in the southern part of the state \u2013 a Fort Myers Beach community called Bayside Estates \u2013 and into a newly built home in Central Florida\u2019s Mount Dora.<\/p>\n
In 2016, they had paid $1,700 for their annual property insurance, but five years later they had been dropped by their insurer and were confronting costs of as much as $4,000 with a new company. Meanwhile the separate flood insurance policy required under their mortgage had surged from $1,300 to an anticipated $5,800 by 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was easy to realize that in five or six years we would be paying (a total of) $10,000 to $12,000 for insurance,\u201d Hodson said. \u201cSo on the first of September 2021, we drove up here to Mount Dora, looked at three communities, wrote a contract the next day, went back and sold the place down there for our asking price.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s current property insurance bill is less than $2,000 annually, flood insurance included.<\/p>\n
If Hodson\u2019s goal was to escape Florida\u2019s highest insurance premiums, he was smart to relocate north.<\/p>\n
![\"Mount](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TOS-L-mtdora-insurance_0013f4.jpg\")
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Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n
Brian Hodson and his wife bought a house in Mount Dora after the insurance bill on a manufactured home they owned in Fort Myers Beach got too high.\u00a0When Hurricane Ian came through, their former mobile home park\u00a0ended up underwater and more than half of the homes were destroyed.
\n![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tos-l-hodson-destruction-ian-01.jpg\")
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Donna Ryan\/Courtesy<\/p>\n
This photo shows the destruction behind the Hodsons’ former home after Hurricane Ian.<\/p>\n
Fifty-one percent of policyholders living in the southern portion of the state said in the survey that their premiums increased by half or more over the last five years. Among homeowners in the northern and central parts of the state, that percentage was 46%.<\/p>\n
Six of every 10 homeowners \u2013 60% \u2013 in the south paid $3,000 or more for their current policy. Forty-four percent paid $4,000 or more.<\/p>\n
That compares to roughly one-third of homeowners in the north and central regions who paid $3,000 or more, and roughly one-fifth who paid in excess of $4,000.<\/p>\n
Insurance experts have long attributed higher prices in southern Florida to a number of factors, including higher values of insured properties, its concentration of older homes that are more prone to equipment failures, and a perception that the region is more vulnerable to hurricanes.<\/p>\n
Is the perception justified? Brian Hodson lived that story too.<\/p>\n
Six months after he and his wife left Fort Myers Beach, Hurricane Ian struck their former community, destroying almost half of the park\u2019s 585 homes. The Hodsons\u2019 former residence survived, but took on five feet of water.<\/p>\n
Dropped by insurer<\/p>\n
Floridians have learned not to get too comfortable with their home insurers. A majority of survey respondents \u2013 54% \u2013 reported changing their insurers at least once over the past five years.<\/p>\n
Nearly half of them had no choice: They were dropped.<\/p>\n
Evelyn Gonzalez, a North Miami Beach homeowner, said she received a letter of non-renewal this year and had to find a new company. Although her insurer told her it was no longer writing policies in her neighborhood, she believes the real reason was that she had recently filed a $15,000 mold claim.<\/p>\n
Also, she had enlisted help from a public adjuster, a move insurance companies tend not to like.<\/p>\n
Rather than use an agent, Gonzalez said she and her husband looked for a replacement on their own. After spending four or five hours on the phone \u2013 \u201ctalking to insurance companies and then, you know, they ask you questions and you have to answer them\u201d \u2013 they ended up with Loggerhead Insurance Exchange.<\/p>\n
Loggerhead offered the lowest price of available options, she said. \u201cIt was not lower than what we had,\u201d she said, \u201cbut the lowest possible that we could find. We\u2019ve never had our insurance get lowered.\u201d<\/p>\n
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While getting dumped is a common experience for Floridians, it\u2019s rare elsewhere. Nationally, just 9% of insurance customers who reported switching companies recently said they were dropped by their previous company, the Consumer Reports survey found. Most had simply shopped for a better rate.<\/p>\n
In Florida, the percentage of switchers who said they were dropped is five times as high. Of those, 22% were ditched by a private insurer, typically by being told they won\u2019t be renewed at the end of a policy term, while 25% were dropped by the state-run Citizens.<\/p>\n
The Citizens removals mostly stem from a years-long effort by state leaders to reduce the public company\u2019s size. This \u201cdepopulation\u201d program, which has shed more than a million policies from Citizens since 2023, urges private companies to \u201ctake out\u201d policies they believe would be profitable. Citizens\u2019 customers are told they may not renew if any private offer comes within 20% of Citizens\u2019 estimated renewal premium.<\/p>\n
Alan Jackson, an Ocala homeowner, said Citizens sent him a letter of non-renewal along with a notice that his home, built in 1990, had been selected for takeout by American Integrity with a $200 premium increase. Jackson said he looked for a less-expensive company but couldn\u2019t find one.<\/p>\n
But Jackson said he\u2019s just relieved the company that took over his policy didn\u2019t require a detailed inspection.<\/p>\n
When he received his letter notifying him he was being depopulated, \u201cI wasn\u2019t as much angry as I was scared,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when they said I\u2019d only have to pay a $200 increase and go onto American Integrity, I was like, \u2018Well, yeah, that sucks, but at least I didn\u2019t have somebody come out and re-survey the house and tell me I need a roof and this, that and the other for them to insure me.\u2019 They just picked me up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the insurance market improving?<\/p>\n
In a polarized political climate, at least one thing unites Floridians across the political spectrum: pessimism about the state\u2019s property insurance market.<\/p>\n
Fifty-five percent of Republicans and 54% of Democrats said they see no signs of improvement. Additionally, 34% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans believe the market is getting worse, according to the survey.<\/p>\n
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The narrow partisan divide is surprising, considering that the state\u2019s property insurance overhaul was the handiwork of its Republican leaders, survey coordinator Freeder said.<\/p>\n
DeSantis continues to tout the changes. \u201cPremiums are lowering because we\u2019ve enacted real reforms and withstood the pressure to reverse course,\u201d he declared in January.<\/p>\n
But Freeder noted that only one in 10 Democrats and independents and 1 in 4 Republicans see signs of improvement. \u201cThat is an unusual degree of bipartisanship on an issue that\u2019s really important to Floridians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The nonpartisan skepticism extends to the question of who benefited most from the overhaul, with 79% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 57% of Republicans tabbing insurers rather than consumers as the victors.<\/p>\n
Tampa homeowner Ashley Lee has her own reasons for pessimism, tied to the $20,000 to $30,000 she spent to repair her home after Hurricane Milton struck the region in 2024.<\/p>\n
![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TOS-L-insurance-tampa_0014f-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n
Ashley Lee in front of her home in the Carrollwood neighborhood of Tampa, August 28, 2026. Lee’s home sustained damage from hurricanes in 2024, but her insurer paid off on only a fraction of the repairs, she said.
\n![\"Stucco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TOS-L-insurance-tampa_0038f.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n
Stucco damaged by storms in 2024 at the home of Ashley Lee in the Carrollwood neighborhood of Tampa, August 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
The storm drove water into Lee\u2019s house through the front and side doors. Milton\u2019s winds damaged her roof. Water flowed in from above, causing a ceiling to collapse inside the home.<\/p>\n
An adjuster estimated the storm caused more than $50,000 in damage and indicated her policy would cover the cost after the deductible, Lee said.<\/p>\n
Instead, she said, her insurer concluded that nearly all of the damage was caused by floodwater, for which she wasn\u2019t covered. She received $2,000, she said. Her leaking roof still isn\u2019t fixed.<\/p>\n
She has little faith in property insurance because \u201call anybody does is find loopholes around helping the way they\u2019re supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cIf they\u2019re not actually trying to help you, then I don\u2019t understand why they\u2019re taking your money in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State leaders insist they\u2019ve resolved Florida\u2019s property insurance crisis. Florida homeowners aren\u2019t buying it. They\u2019re reporting surging premiums,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[558,28,30,29,27089,114,266,115,480],"class_list":["post-410234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-property-insurance","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tfl-l-insurance-dan-caudill-1-082426.jpg\")
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