How will David Jolly lower my property insurance costs?

Why this matters

Florida is one of the most expensive states in the country for homeowners insurance, ranking first or second on most credible analyses.^[3] Multiple national insurers including Farmers, Bankers Insurance, and AAA pulled out of Florida or significantly curtailed coverage between 2021 and 2024, citing hurricane-loss volatility.^[4] Florida led the nation in homeowner-insurance non-renewal rates at 2.99 percent of policies in 2023, with Louisiana second-highest at about 1.8 percent.^[5]

The math for Florida families is brutal. Estimates of the average annual premium range from roughly $5,400 for a $300,000 home to over $14,000 for higher-value coverage, with coastal markets like Miami-Dade, Tampa, and Jacksonville seeing the largest cumulative increases.^[3] About 15 to 20 percent of Florida homeowners are now uninsured against property loss, the highest share in any state with a developed mortgage market.^[6] For many families, the choice is pay the premium or risk losing the home to foreclosure when the bank discovers you dropped coverage.

This is not an affordability problem. This is an economic crisis. The homeowner's insurance market in Florida has collapsed and it's not coming back because none of the major carriers are here.^[7]

The approach

On day one as governor, David Jolly will introduce a package for a state catastrophic fund to fully remove hurricane and wind coverage from the private market and reduce homeowner's insurance by 60 to 70 percent.^[1] The state catastrophic fund is the only actuarially sound way to cover the risk of natural disasters and hurricanes in states like Florida.^[8]

The collapse is due to denying climate science for so long that there's no longer an affordable way for the market to cover major hurricanes, floods, and big storms.^[7] Today, every private Florida insurer prices hurricane risk into every policy, and because each insurer carries thin capital reserves relative to potential hurricane losses, they have to add huge risk margins on top of the actuarial cost. Pooling hurricane risk across all Florida homes spreads the loss exposure efficiently, the same way Medicare or Social Security pool risk across millions of people.

The infrastructure already exists. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, administered by the State Board of Administration, is a state-run reinsurance pool that backstops hurricane losses for private insurers. As of December 31, 2024, the fund had a balance of $7.12 billion.^[2] The FHCF is statutorily authorized to cover up to $17 billion in losses, with an estimated maximum financing capacity of about $11.2 billion for the 2025-26 contract year.^[2]

Jolly's plan expands that mechanism. The state already operates the FHCF as reinsurance for private insurers. His proposal moves it from backstop to primary coverage for hurricane perils, carving hurricane and wind coverage out of the private market entirely.

Why this works

This is the opposite of a bailout. It's a risk-pooling mechanism designed to lower costs for everyone. Homeowners would still pay for their state hurricane coverage, just at a lower combined cost than today.^[9] The state benefits because stabilizing the Florida property market prevents forced sales and asset destruction that would ripple into property tax bases and the broader state economy.

The 60 to 70 percent savings projection comes from eliminating the private insurers' hurricane-risk margins, which have been the primary driver of Florida's premium surge.^[1] Private carriers don't have the balance sheet to absorb a major hurricane without reinsurance, and global reinsurance prices have hardened since 2017 due to climate-loss frequency.^[10] The state does have that balance sheet. Florida can self-insure hurricane risk more efficiently than the private market can price it.

This approach allows Florida to lead the country and the world in providing coverage for homeowners while ensuring economic recovery from major storms.^[8] Homeowners keep their private coverage for everything else (fire, theft, liability). The state absorbs only the hurricane and wind peril that the private market can no longer price affordably.

Who it helps

Homeowners carrying a mortgage see immediate monthly savings. Renters benefit because landlords pass insurance costs through to rent. Retirees on fixed income in coastal condos, who often pay insurance directly rather than through an escrow account, would see the largest percentage relief. Second-home and non-homestead properties would also qualify for the catastrophic fund coverage, since the fund doesn't condition on homestead status.^[11]

The structural pressures (insurance plus Save Our Homes cap plus rates) mean fast relief is hard, but the catastrophic fund would take direct cost off your monthly housing bill within two to three years as the fund scales.^[12]

How this differs from what DeSantis already tried

The DeSantis-era insurance reforms focused on litigation: assignment-of-benefits restrictions and one-way attorney fee elimination. Those reforms reduced one driver of insurance costs (litigation) but did not address the underlying structural problem, hurricane risk in every private policy.^[13]

Citizens depopulation has shifted policies back to private carriers but often at higher rates.^[14] Jolly's plan is structurally different: it separates hurricane coverage entirely from the private market through an expanded state catastrophic fund. It doesn't tinker with litigation rules or depopulation incentives. It changes the risk structure itself.