Over half of Florida hurricane home insurance claims rejected. Here’s why

Over two months since Florida was struck back-to-back by hurricanes Helene and Milton, and over half of closed home insurance claims from the storms have been rejected, according to the latest data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

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The data shows that as of Dec. 18, just over half of closed claims from Milton had ended with payments. Meanwhile, figures from Dec. 16 reveal that only around 37% of closed claims from Helene had actually paid out.

This means that between both storms, over 52% of claims have been rejected so far.

Of those claims, the state data gives the following reasons for why they were rejected:

• Due to non-covered flood damage

  • Helene: 9,691

  • Milton: 6,734

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    TOTAL: 16,425

• Due to damage below the deductible

  • Helene: 9,465

  • Milton: 39,938

  • TOTAL: 49,403

• All other reasons

  • Helene: 14,415

  • Milton: 49,718

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    TOTAL: 64,133

However, not all home insurance claims have been processed at this time. In fact, just under 80% of these claims have been closed between both Helene and Milton.

But after factoring in other types of insurance claims — commercial property; private flood; business interruption; commercial auto; and private passenger — state figures show that the storms have incurred total losses of over $5.7 billion.

With many Florida residents suffering from sky-high insurance rates, News 6 spoke with the state’s insurance commissioner, Michael Yaworsky, to figure out whether rates would ever be as low as they were before hurricanes Ian and Nicole back in 2022.

“There is the possibility they could go back down before they went so high, so what we’re seeing is a really positive reaction in the marketplace. We’ve met with a number of reinsurers this year. This past year was the first time that we saw an actual reduction in the cost of reinsurance, which is about 45 to 55% of every homeowner’s premium. So there is there is rate relief that we’re seeing that decrease begin to take place. How low it will go is it depends on a number of factors, including what Mother Nature throws at us in coming years. So it’s impossible to say exactly.”

Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky

For more on News 6′s interview with Yaworsky about the state’s insurance crisis, click here.