WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Some Citizens Insurance customers are being told they need to switch providers, and it's resulting in higher bills.
Pamela Weixler of Sebastian said the letter she received from Citizens Insurance was very clear.
"Citizens canceled me because they found an insurance company that would cover me with a 20% increase in premium. That is after a replaced my roof!," she posted over a Facebook page for WPTV's Insurance Town Hall on Tuesday.
She is one of about 480,000 Citizens' policyholders now involved in a depopulation of Citizens as five new insurance companies enter the Florida marketplace.
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Recently Citizens has swelled to 1.3 million policies as insurance companies have gone insolvent, dropped policies and leveled steep premium increases.
Weixler said the increase with the new company, which takes effect in March 2024, adds to the 190% increase she's had to pay over the last two years.
"I love my house. I want to stay on my house," she said. "I want to stay in Florida, but what incentive is there with everything that's happening with the increases? I don't see an end to it."
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State rules are allowing the policy assumption as long as the private companies do go higher than 20% of the Citizens' policies.
"We've got another insurer coming online, and we've got more policies being taken out of Citizens," Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said in a statement last week announcing a fifth new insurance company to enter the state.
"If you get an assumption letter, the immediate thing to do is call your agent and discuss the pros and cons," Robert Norberg of Arden Insurance, a panelist on the Tuesday night Town Hall, said. "When these other companies come in, that's good for the marketplace, and it will eventually spur competition, which is ultimately what we need."