Tag: Citizens Insurance

DeSantis says Citizens Insurance has fewer policyholders, will slash rates
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Credit: Gov. Ron DeSantis/X

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that the state’s insurer of last resort has half a million fewer policyholders and will slash rates for its remaining users.

Policyholders with Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed program providing insurance to high-risk Floridians, will see their rates reduced in the spring by 8.7% statewide. South Florida counties like Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm-Beach will see the largest decrease in rates, averaging roughly 13.4%.

Moreover, the number of policies held by Citizens dropped to its lowest level in 14 years: from 1.3 million in 2023 to 400,000. This is considered a good sign for Florida’s insurance market because, generally, the larger Citizens is, the worse the market is doing.

“So, you’ve never really seen, I don’t think, rate reductions — certainly with Citizens — at this level anytime in modern memory that anyone can talk about,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Davie Monday morning. “And so today, we are happy to announce historic reductions. … The vast, vast majority of Citizens policyholders will receive a significant reduction.”

Citizens Insurance has faced its share of controversy, particularly after it expanded following major hurricanes after 2018 as private companies fled the market. Premiums have since skyrocketed, leaving Citizens the sole option for many.

And in 2023, a new state law allowed Citizens to steer claim disputes to the Division of Administrative Hearings instead of going into state trial courts, Politico reported. Citizens had a staggering win rate of 90% of challenged claims through this hearing process, compared to winning just 55% of the time when claims would be battled out in circuit court, ProPublica reported.

By county, here are the four that will see the largest rate reductions:
- Broward: 27,000 homeowners will see an average reduction of 14.1%.
- Miami-Dade: 42,000 homeowners will see an average reduction of nearly 14%.
- Palm Beach: 26,000 homeowners will see an average reduction of 11.9%.
- Monroe: Homeowners with full coverage will see an average reduction of 11.3%.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.

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Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix
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January 12, 2026
Safe Pro Group’s Airborne Response Drone Unit Secures Second Contract Extension with Citizens Property Insurance for Urgent Response and Routine Aerial Services

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AVENTURA, FL, September 10, 2024 (Newswire.com)
–
Contract Renewal Extends Airborne Response’s Support for Rapid Claims, Helping Citizens Property Insurance Deliver Improved Customer Service

Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAI) (“Safe Pro” or the “Company”), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions specializing in drone imagery processing for humanitarian mine-clearing efforts, today announced that its Mission Critical Unmanned Solutions® subsidiary, Airborne Response (Airborne), has received a one-year aerial services contract extension from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”). Citizens was created by the Florida Legislature in August 2002 as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, government entity.

This is the second annual extension Airborne has received since securing its initial 3-year aerial services agreement in 2018 under a public competitive solicitation. Per the agreement, Airborne Response will utilize Florida-compliant uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) or drones, to provide “blue sky” routine flight services and “gray sky” disaster response and catastrophe flight services to help Citizens’ business units assess the condition of roof structures and other targets of interest.

“This second contract extension is evidence of Citizens’ trust in Airborne Response and the clear value of the service our flight teams provide,” said Christopher Todd, President of Airborne Response. “We are excited to continue growing our relationship with Citizens and help support the peace of mind of Florida’s residents and business community.”

Airborne Response customers include leading energy, telecommunications, and insurance firms located across Florida. Its flight teams utilize sUAS to help assess the condition of Florida’s power grid and evaluate storm damage to Florida residences. It also conducts other emergency and disaster flight services to enable a swift response to severe weather incidents such as rapidly intensifying major hurricanes impacting critical infrastructure. Airborne Response is currently onboarding new customers for on-demand disaster drone flight services throughout the Southern U.S.

A video introduction to Airborne Response’s aerial drone services can be found here.

For more information about Safe Pro Group, its subsidiaries, and technologies, please visit https://safeprogroup.com/ and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

About Safe Pro Group Inc.

Safe Pro Group is a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions specializing in drone imagery processing for humanitarian mine-clearing efforts. The Company leverages commercially available “off-the-shelf” drones with its proprietary machine learning and computer vision technology to rapidly identify explosive threats which provides a much safer and more efficient alternative to traditional human-based methods to analyze minefields. Built on a cloud-based ecosystem powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Safe Pro Group’s scalable platform is targeting multiple markets that include government, humanitarian aid, law enforcement, military and commercial sectors where its AI, protective gear, and drone-based services can work in synergy to deliver safety and operational efficiency. For more information on Safe Pro Group Inc., please visit https://safeprogroup.com/.

About Airborne Response

Airborne Response is the premier provider of Mission Critical Unmanned Solutions®, capturing aerial intelligence using small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS). Airborne Response serves industry and government customers in the critical infrastructure, emergency services, and disaster response sectors. Airborne Response is a wholly owned subsidiary of Safe Pro Group Inc., a U.S. safety and security solutions dedicated to protecting those who protect us all. For more information on Airborne Response, please visit: http://airborneresponse.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements relate to future events, future expectations, plans and prospects. Although Safe Pro Group believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Safe Pro Group has attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including ”believes,” ”estimates,” ”anticipates,” ”expects,” ”plans,” ”projects,” ”intends,” ”potential,” ”may,” ”could,” ”might,” ”will,” ”should,” ”approximately” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including market and other conditions. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), copies of which may be obtained from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of its date. Safe Pro Group undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

Contact Information

Media Relations
media@safeprogroup.com

Investor Relations
investors@safeprogroup.com

SOURCE: Safe Pro Group Inc.

Source: Safe Pro Group Inc.

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September 10, 2024
Citizens Insurance CEO says the state-backed insurer ‘will always be able’ to pay claims

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The chief executive of Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. on Wednesday pushed back against financial questions raised by the chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, saying the insurer “will always be able” to pay claims.

Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio released a statement after Senate Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sent a letter Monday that cited a recent comment by Gov. Ron DeSantis that Citizens is “not solvent.” That came after Whitehouse in November requested financial information from Citizens and raised the possibility that the insurer could seek a federal bailout if Florida gets hit by a major hurricane.

In his statement Wednesday, Cerio cited a Dec. 15 response that Citizens provided to Whitehouse.

“We believe we fully addressed the concerns raised in Chairman Whitehouse’s prior letter by pointing out in great detail the mechanisms under Florida law that ensure Citizens will always be able to pay the claims of its insureds (customers),” Cerio said in the statement. “We also highlighted that neither Citizens, its predecessor entities, nor the state of Florida, have ever sought a federal bailout to cover hurricane losses. We also expressed concern that the chairman’s letter could cause misplaced panic in a Florida insurance market well on its way to recovery.”

Citizens has access to billions of dollars in cash and reinsurance coverage to pay claims. It also could collect money from policyholders across the state — including from non-Citizens policyholders — through what are known as “assessments” to cover claims.

“Again, as outlined in our previous response to the chairman’s November 30 correspondence, we can think of no scenario in which Citizens would be required to seek federal financial assistance,” Cerio said in the statement. “If Citizens exhausts its surplus and reinsurance coverage following a major storm or series of storms, it is required by Florida statute to levy surcharges on its policyholders and assessments on non-Citizens policyholders to eliminate any deficit.”

Whitehouse’s letter Monday cited a DeSantis comment last month that Citizens is “not solvent.” The comment came during an interview on CNBC.

“The bottom line is that, according to Florida’s own governor, Citizens faces a major solvency crisis and would be unable to pay out all claims and expenses should a major storm hit Florida,” Whitehouse wrote in Monday’s letter. “This would, in turn, create the risk that Florida could seek a bailout from the U.S. government, further tapping into federal resources.”

Whitehouse also said Citizens had not fully addressed his November requests for information. He said he sought “information and documents responsive to seven specific questions about Citizens’ storm exposure, risk modeling, possible need for a federal bailout, and discussions with relevant state leaders about those subjects.”

In the statement Wednesday, Cerio said Citizens officials “will certainly meet with Budget Committee staff to provide information and documentation about Citizens’ structure, function, and claims paying ability. It is important to note that much of the information sought by the Budget Committee is already available online and is regularly discussed during our public board meetings.” He also appeared to address DeSantis’ comment.

“The governor has been consistent and clear in his concern that if there were a major storm or series of storms, and Citizens exhausted its surplus and reinsurance, it would be required under Florida law to levy an emergency assessment on the policyholders of Florida — 83% of whom are not even Citizens customers,” the statement said.

Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort, but it has grown in recent years to become the largest property insurer in the state because of financial troubles in the private market. As of Friday, it had 1.18 million policies, according to its website.

State officials have long tried to reduce the number of policies in Citizens, at least in part because of concerns about financial risks if the state gets hit by a major hurricane or multiple hurricanes. It reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of a “depopulation” program, which involves moving policies into the private insurance market.

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Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

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March 21, 2024
U.S. Senator cites DeSantis’ claim that Citizens Insurance is ‘not solvent’ in request for financial information

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Photo via Gov. Ron DeSantis/Twitter

Seizing on a comment by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee has ratcheted up a request for financial information about Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sent a letter Monday to Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio that cited a recent DeSantis comment that Citizens is “not solvent” and said Cerio had not fully addressed questions that Whitehouse raised in a November request.

“The bottom line is that, according to Florida’s own governor, Citizens faces a major solvency crisis and would be unable to pay out all claims and expenses should a major storm hit Florida,” Whitehouse wrote in Monday’s letter. “This would, in turn, create the risk that Florida could seek a bailout from the U.S. government, further tapping into federal resources.”

A news release Tuesday from the Senate committee said its probe of Citizens “built on two previous, still ongoing investigations into the insurance industry’s response to climate change amid the committee’s growing concerns about the economy-wide harms from a spiraling insurance affordability and availability crisis.”

Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort, but it has grown in recent years to become the largest property insurer in the state because of financial troubles in the private market. As of Friday, it had 1.18 million policies, according to its website.

State officials have long tried to reduce the number of policies in Citizens, at least in part because of concerns about financial risks if the state gets hit by a major hurricane or multiple hurricanes. DeSantis caused a stir when he said during an interview last month on CNBC that Citizens is “not solvent.”

Citizens has access to billions of dollars in cash and reinsurance coverage to pay claims. It also could collect money from policyholders across the state — including from non-Citizens policyholders — through what are known as “assessments” to pay claims.

In November and in Monday’s letter, Whitehouse raised the possibility that Citizens could turn to the federal government for a bailout if it faced catastrophic losses.

“The (November) letter specifically set out my concerns about Florida’s uniquely large and growing exposure to climate-related property losses, Citizens’ rapidly expanding market share and state law allowing Citizens to levy special assessments on all policyholders in the event that losses exceed its ability to pay,” Whitehouse’s Monday letter said. “I noted that, if Citizens were unable to cover its losses, it is entirely possible that state leaders might ask the federal government for a bailout. Accordingly, I requested information and documents responsive to seven specific questions about Citizens’ storm exposure, risk modeling, possible need for a federal bailout, and discussions with relevant state leaders about those subjects.”

Cerio responded with a letter in December and also pushed back publicly against Whitehouse’s assertions. During a December meeting of the Citizens Board of Governors, Cerio said Whitehouse’s November letter could cause “unwarranted panic” among Citizens policyholders and Floridians.

“I cannot over-emphasize that the assumptions in the Budget Committee’s letter suggest a fundamental misunderstanding of how Citizens Property Insurance operates, and it under-estimates our claims-paying ability,” Cerio said. “And I’m speaking now, and I need to speak to our policyholders so they hear this, Citizens is structured so it will always be able to protect its policyholders and pay claims.”

Citizens did not immediately comment Tuesday about the new letter.

Whitehouse in Monday’s letter said Cerio did not “address my concerns that, should a major storm hit Florida and require exorbitant levies, Florida residents might be unwilling or unable to pay them, leading to further financial risks both to Florida and, possibly, the federal government.”

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Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

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March 20, 2024