ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s property insurance market has been in crisis even before Hurricane Ian, and the governor said Citizens Insurance is prepared and able to pay out claims.

Florida residents have watched their premiums rise for years now.

Even a special legislative session earlier this year has not offered any relief.

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We have seen more and more insurers leave the state which means more people are ending up at Citizens’ Insurance.

Experts previously warned that if a big storm hit the state, Citizens could be in financial trouble, but the governor says the company is financially able to keep up with the damage caused by hurricane Ian

A spokesperson from Citizens tells News 6 they have set up a catastrophe response center in Port Charlotte.

The point is to have a presence on the ground in the areas hardest hit to assist people in filing claims.

Citizens is backed by the state and was supposed to be the insurer of last resort, but Citizens is now the largest property insurer in the state.

They have just over a million policies and about 13% of market share across Florida.

Citizens was never designed to be so big.

Still Gov. DeSantis is reassuring policy holders who have been hit by Hurricane Ian that their claims will be paid.

“Citizens right now, they have six to seven billion in surplus. The model after this storm, they expect to still have four to five billion in surplus, so they see themselves getting through this,”

A state law maker told News 6 recently if Citizens were a private insurer they would never be allowed to operate as they are, with the amount of reserves they have versus the number of policies.

Still, the governor says the company is fiscally able to handle Hurricane Ian.

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