Florida Insurance Summit Highlights Success of Legislative Reforms and Market Recovery

The recent Florida Chamber of Commerce Insurance Summit emphasized the success and importance of the state's legislative reforms in stabilizing the property insurance market. The reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023 have effectively curtailed excessive homeowner claims litigation and facilitated multiple rate reductions by insurers, signaling a healthier market environment. Florida's personal injury protection (PIP) auto insurance system remains intact despite ongoing legislative efforts to replace it with a tort-based bodily injury system. Advocates at the summit underscored PIP's role in mitigating auto insurance fraud and maintaining system efficiency. Key legislative changes that helped restore stability include the elimination of assignments-of-benefits agreements, restrictions on one-way attorney fees, and tougher standards for claiming insurer bad faith. These measures have enhanced predictability in loss costs and loss adjustment expenses, benefiting insurers and policyholders alike. Market dynamics reflect these positive impacts; Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-backed insurer of last resort, has significantly reduced its policyholder base from 1.4 million in 2023 to approximately 385,000. This reduction allows private carriers greater market share opportunities and demonstrates recovering confidence in the Florida property insurance market. Industry leaders, including reinsurance and catastrophe bond managers, project that Florida can absorb substantial hurricane losses without triggering notable insurance price increases, thanks to the legislative framework. The upcoming 2026 legislative session will be closely watched for any potential challenges to these reforms. The state's insurance regulators and market participants continue to express optimism about Florida's property insurance outlook, with calls to maintain the current legislative structure to ensure ongoing market stability and consumer protection.