FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2026
CONTACT
Nicole Kiser
nkiser@jamesmadison.org
(850) 386-3131
The James Madison Institute Recommends Restoring Citizen’s Insurance to Its Proper Purpose
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s property insurance market has made significant progress since the Legislature enacted major reforms in 2022 and 2023, creating an opportunity to further restore Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to its intended role as an insurer of last resort, according to a new policy brief from The James Madison Institute (JMI).
The report, From Backstop to Market Participant: Reassessing Citizens’ Role, finds that private capital has returned to Florida, litigation has declined, insurer financial performance has improved, and more companies are competing for residential property insurance business. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of policies have moved from Citizens back into the private market.
Citizens has fallen from more than 1.4 million policies in 2023 to approximately 255,000 in September 2026, demonstrating the private market’s increased capacity to absorb risk.
“Florida has spent years rebuilding a property insurance market that can actually serve homeowners without relying so heavily on a government-run insurer, in other words, the Florida taxpayer,” said Doug Wheeler, director of The James Madison Institute’s Gibbs Center for Economic Prosperity. “Now that the market has stabilized, Florida has an opportunity to make sure Citizens is doing what it was created to do: provide a backstop when private coverage is genuinely unavailable, rather than compete with private insurers for business they are willing and able to write. We cannot go backwards.”
JMI recommends that lawmakers revisit Citizens’ eligibility standards, reevaluate its rate glide path, better align catastrophe-risk pricing with the private market, and clarify the requirement that Citizens’ rates remain noncompetitive.
Read the full report: From Backstop to Market Participant: Reassessing Citizens’ Role
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The James Madison Institute is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the ideals of limited government, economic freedom, federalism and individual liberty coupled with individual responsibility. The institute conducts research on such issues as education, technology, health care, taxes and regulatory environments.
