WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The CEO of one of the larger insurance companies in Florida is expressing some optimism about the state’s homeowners insurance.
“I do not believe you’re not going to see some wide swings,” Ernie Garateix, the CEO of Heritage Insurance, told WPTV reporter Matt Sczesny. “I think you’re seeing a stabilization in the market when it comes to rates.”
Garateix spoke with WPTV from London where he said he was meeting with reinsurance firms to discuss the financial impact of Hurricane Milton.
He said so far Heritage has about 6,700 claims from the storm, including about 70 from the tornadoes that hit Florida’s east coast.
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The hurricane, he said, will also be a test for the state’s reforms on curbing lawsuits, which some have argued has led to years of losses and rate hikes.
“Milton is the first major hurricane that will test the reforms of 2022, but we’re very optimistic those reforms will hold,” Garateix said.
Overall, Garateix said Heritage is well-positioned heading into 2025. In the second half of this year, the insurer rolled back premiums by about 3%.
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“We’ve always said we’re a long player in the market, and we are committed,” Garateix said.
He also said the company has weathered the difficulty of a large state fine for how it handled some claims from Hurricane Ian. They were the subject of a national report for allegedly altering adjuster reports.
“We owe it not just to the policyholder to write the correct coverages they’re afforded on the policy, but all the policyholders in the state,” Garateix said. “If we’re paying for coverages that aren’t afforded, that’s going to cost everybody’s rates to go up.”
Matt Sczesny is determined every day to help you find solutions in Florida’s coverage collapse. If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, you can reach out to him any time.
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