Florida homeowners will likely pay a little more than 2 percent extra on their insurance premium when they renew to help bail out the state-backed insurance company for people who can’t get coverage from private insurers. The charge will be $20.70 for every $1,000 in premium.
The board of Citizens Property Insurance approved the charge, which will help it pay off a $1.7 billion deficit from last year. The figure still must be approved by the state Office of Insurance Regulation.
The 2 percent assessment is much lower than it might have been. That’s because state lawmakers earlier this year pumped $750 million in state tax dollars into Citizens. Had it not been for that, homeowners would have been facing an assessment closer to 12 percent, Citizens President Bob Ricker said.
By law, when Citizens can’t pay all of its claims, other insurance companies are required to place an assessment on their Florida customers to bail out Citizens. Customers of Citizens pay the assessment as well. The new charge is on top of a nearly 7 percent assessment homeowners already are paying.
Even with the state money and the assessment, Citizens is still short of what it needs and will consider another assessment later.
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