Florida’s insurance market is one of the worst in the nation for homeowners, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) obtained by The Washington Post. Overall, in 2022, Florida had the highest percentage of unpaid claims of any state and the most claims that were never processed, and it failed to renew the most policies.

Bruce Lucas created Slide Insurance Company in 2021 in response to Florida’s emerging insurance crisis. And already, insurance officials have awarded Lucas the opportunity to take over far more policies than any other company, data shows — either directly from Citizens or from other insurers that have gone under or pulled out of the state.

You get to cherry-pick the policies,” Lucas bragged, describing how he has been able to select hundreds of thousands of favorable policies — and the revenue that comes with them — from Florida’s state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. “You are underwriting and cherry-picking the best policies,” he added, “leaving kind of the worst ones there” according to an investigation by The Washington Post.  Lucas, who has called himself in news accounts “the ultimate industry insider,” has been at the center of Florida’s tumultuous insurance world for more than a decade. He earned $78 million as chief executive of Heritage over eight years, according to company reports. And in just two years, he’s raised $160 million for Slide, which has catapulted the company to become one of the largest insurers in the state.

 

Florida officials defend the takeout practice, saying it’s necessary to sustain a private market.

We wanted them to pick what would be attractive to them so they would keep the policies,” said Michael Peltier, a Citizens spokesman. “It was designed to cherry-pick.”

 

Lucas is counting on new Florida anti homeowner legislation to make sure his current business model succeeds. The legislation clamps down on lawsuits from homeowners who claim they weren’t paid what they were owed, freeing insurers from covering the legal fees if they lose a case and prohibiting other practices that insurers said inflated their costs.

 

Critics argue the pro insurance company one sided legislation will worsen the plight of homeowners while making the insurance company and its CEO, like Lucas, even wealthier. “Insurance companies love the idea of restricting policyholders’ ability to seek legal remedies. Notwithstanding some abuse of the legal system … legislation went too far without a proper assessment of the situation,” said Gavin Magor, director of research and ratings at Weiss Ratings. “Florida has a terrible record of nonpayment of insurance claims. It is only appropriate that reasonable legal remedies should be available to policyholders.”

 

Hopefully, in 2024 the voices of the property owners will be heard in congress, and we will see a correction in the one-sided property insurance legislation bringing relief for the Florida citizens.

 

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