Florida’s Insurance System Is Not Broken. It Is Being Exploited.

Florida homeowners have been told for years that rising premiums are the result of lawsuits, fraud, and natural disasters. That narrative has been repeated so often that many people have accepted it as fact. But a recent investigation by CBS News tells a very different story. It reveals a system where homeowners are not just paying more, but are being systematically moved into insurance arrangements that benefit companies at the expense of the people they are supposed to protect.

This is not simply a market failure. It is a failure of accountability.

At the center of this issue is Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state backed insurer that was designed to be the insurer of last resort. Over the past several years, Citizens has grown rapidly as private insurers either collapsed or withdrew from the Florida market. In response, the state has pushed a process known as depopulation, where policies are transferred out of Citizens and into private insurance companies.

On paper, that sounds like a good idea. In reality, it has become one of the most dangerous mechanisms in Florida’s insurance system.

Homeowners are often forced to accept coverage from private insurers they did not choose. These companies are frequently new, thinly capitalized, and largely unknown to the policyholder. The decision is not based on what is best for the homeowner. It is based on reducing the state’s exposure, regardless of the risk being transferred to Florida families.

According to whistleblowers cited in the CBS investigation, some of these companies are not operating the way consumers would expect. Instead of prioritizing claims paying ability and long term stability, there are allegations that profits are being extracted through affiliated entities and complex financial arrangements. In plain terms, money may be leaving the insurance company while it still claims financial distress.

If that sounds familiar, it should.

This is the same type of behavior that has already contributed to multiple insurer insolvencies in Florida. When companies fail, it is not the executives who suffer the consequences. It is the policyholders who are left scrambling, often forced back into Citizens or into yet another unstable insurer, all while paying higher premiums for less coverage.

Meanwhile, the political establishment continues to point the finger at everyone except the system itself.

They blame contractors.
They blame attorneys.
They blame policyholders.

But they refuse to take a hard look at the structure that allows this to happen in the first place.

The truth is simple. Florida’s insurance market is not operating as a true free market. It is a controlled environment where risk is shifted, profits are protected, and accountability is almost nonexistent.

As a public adjuster, I have seen firsthand what happens when this system fails. Claims are underpaid. Coverage is reduced. Families are left fighting for what they are owed while premiums continue to climb year after year.

As your next Chief Financial Officer, I will not accept this.

We will bring transparency back to the system by requiring full disclosure of financial relationships between insurance companies and their affiliated entities. We will strengthen oversight to ensure that companies taking on Florida policies have the financial strength to honor their obligations. We will hold insurers accountable when they fail to act in good faith. And we will restructure oversight within the Department of Financial Services so that consumers, not corporations, are the priority.

This includes implementing a stronger, independent review structure through my proposed Florida Insurance Licensing and Oversight Board, ensuring that decisions are made with expertise, balance, and accountability. It also means empowering investigative functions within the Division of Investigative and Forensic Services to aggressively pursue fraud, whether it is committed by a contractor, a policyholder, or an insurance company.

Because accountability should not be selective.

Floridians deserve a system that works for them. Not one that moves them from one failing company to another while telling them to be grateful they have coverage at all.

The investigation by CBS News did not create this problem. It exposed it.

Now the question is whether we have the leadership to fix it.

Accountability
Integrity
Florida First

Together we can make insurance affordable again

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/projects/2026/florida-insurance/