Citizens Insurance on Target To Drop Below 650,000 Policies

December 11, 2014

The effort to move customers into the private market will slow at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. now that the state-backed insurer has cut its number of policies in half over the past two years.

Still, about 100,000 more policies could be pushed into the private market during the next year, Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway told members of the insurer’s Board of Governors on Wednesday.

“While depopulation will be slowing, as we begin to look more like the market of last resort we were created to be, we’re still forecasting to be well below 650,000 next year,” Gilway said.

Citizens, which peaked at 1.5 million policies in August 2012, was down to 727,122 policies as of November 30. The insurer this year set up an electronic clearinghouse aimed at moving property owners to the private market.

Also, in January, more than 182,000 policies now in Citizens will be available to be picked up by nine private carriers in a process known as “takeouts.” For February, five companies have been approved to receive up to 132,941 residential policies. In both cases, the overall number of policies eventually shifted is not expected to reach the approved maximum, as private companies cherry-pick the least-risky policies and often go after many of the same customers.

On Tuesday, Citizens executives announced they are rewriting a letter sent to customers selected for “takeout” regarding policyholders’ rights in the process. Also, the letter will be sent earlier in the process.

Comments

2 Responses to “Citizens Insurance on Target To Drop Below 650,000 Policies”

  1. Jo-Blo on December 11th, 2014 4:06 pm

    Fishhook – You are probably referring to the assessment (not subsidy) by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe. It has nothing to do with the reduction in policies at Citizens. This assessment covers payouts to policyholders not reimbursed by their homeowner policy from hurricanes dating back to 2005. The assessment is set to expire in 2015.

  2. Fishhook240 on December 11th, 2014 11:06 am

    Being they are downsizing are they going to remove the subsidies from my car and home insurance policies

    Just wondering