Petrelli, president of Demotech, a company that rates the financial health of insurers. In some parts of the state, it has become all but impossible for homeowners to buy private insurance.Īs the cost of doing business went up in Florida, many insurers started expanding into other coastal states, hoping their experience with hurricanes would help them make money in places like Louisiana, according to Joseph L. Many insurers started dropping customers in high-risk areas, and refusing to take on new ones. “And right now, writing business in Florida is not profitable.”Īfter massive claims from Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Michael in 2018, insurance companies have been losing money for years, and those losses were growing. “It all comes down to profitability for the insurance companies,” Mr. The current market is tighter than at any point since 2003 or 2004, according to Adam Lopatin, senior vice president at USI Insurance Services. Since then, the willingness of private insurers to offer coverage in Florida has waxed and waned, often in response to storms. After Hurricane Andrew devastated Southeast Florida in 1992, more than a dozen insurance companies went out of business.

Keenan said.įlorida has long been a test case for how the insurance industry responds to disasters.

“Climate change is actually accelerating the degradation of buildings,” Dr. But the effects of global warming, which include extreme heat and more moisture in the air, cause structures to deteriorate more quickly, according to Jesse Keenan, a professor at Tulane University who specializes in the consequences of climate change for the built environment. It is too soon to say whether climate change contributed to the collapse of the building in Surfside.

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