Citizens Heading Toward 1 Million Policies
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s president Barry Gilway recently projected the organization’s policy count could reach between 1 million and 1.3 million policies in 2022. Its policy count has been increasing steadily since late last year as adverse market conditions have eroded capital and reduced insurers’ willingness to write policies in several areas of the state.
Citizens had just under 500,000 policies as of August 31, 2021. Since then, it has grown to more than 700,000 policies currently and is projected to reach 765,000 by the end of the year.
At a recent Senate Banking and Insurance Committee meeting, Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier called the current market situation “dire.” He pointed to significant underwriting losses in the residential property insurance sector over the last few years and through the second quarter of 2021. On a somewhat more favorable note, Commissioner Altmaier told the committee one new insurer is in the process of obtaining a license with a goal of assuming policies from Citizens at the end of this year. Nonetheless, Commissioner Altmaier cautioned that the nature of the insurance business dictates there are no quick-fixes as the market adjusts to current conditions and abuses.