Florida's Homeowners Insurance Problems

Floridians have seen dramatically rising homeowners insurance premium increases over the past several years, with year-over-year increases of forty percent or more over multiple years. The problem grew so severe that the State legislature convened a special session in 2022 to address the problem, ultimately passing several efforts designed to moderate rates. This Article reviews the evidence of Florida’s experience to interrogate why the State has suffered disparately high homeowners insurance premium increases. In light of this interrogation, I critically assess the prospects for the recent legislative efforts and other suggestions to address the underlying problems. Reform efforts predominantly address a perceived problem of excess litigation and insurance fraud, but I show how the available evidence suggests the bulk of recent rate increases may be due to other causes. Finding that recent legislative efforts offer only incomplete solutions as premiums continue to remain high, I provide additional possibilities for reform that target both potentially excessive litigation as well as other possible causes. Florida’s successes and challenges with tackling increasing premiums is informative not just for Floridians, but also for other states that may have similar systems in place that may result in similar future premium increases unless preventative action is taken.