ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida property owners are paying roughly four times the national average for insurance.
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And more than a million policyholders could soon pay even more.
Earlier this week, Citizens Property Insurance announced it is pushing for a rate hike for its most common policy type.
If approved, owners of single-family homes would see an average 13.5% rate hike.
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Condo owners could face even higher rates.
“So, what the legislature has done is they’ve glide path the rates,” said insurance expert Tom Cotton. “Are trying to step them up over a period of time, rather than forcing the major increases on the citizens, policyholders. They’re doing spreading it out over time.”
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Citizens’ CEO says the insurer plans to depopulate even more policies, cutting more than 400,000 from fall of last year to the end of this year.
This would lessen the state’s financial risk.
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However, it would also push people who rely on Citizens out, likely forcing them to move to a more expensive private insurer.
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