ICYMI: 'Catastrophically Dysfunctional' Insurance Market Due to Rick Scott’s 'Sweetheart Deal’ with Insurer, says Debbie Mucarsel-Powell'

“The $52 million deal came two months after Scott’s campaign received $110,000 from Heritage.”

A new story from Floricua News details how Heritage Insurance, which is under criminal investigation for defrauding victims of Hurricane Ian, got their start in Florida’s property insurance market thanks to a $52 million “sweetheart deal” from Rick Scott’s administration. The 2013 deal to shift 60,000 policyholders from state-run Citizens Insurance came two months after Heritage contributed $110,000 to Scott’s campaign. 

Scott’s gubernatorial campaigns were bankrolled by more than $2 million from the insurance industry. As a result, Scott’s administration then pushed through policies favored by the insurers at homeowners’ and taxpayers’ expense. Today, Floridians are being crushed by an insurance crisis that started under Scott’s watch. 

Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below: 

• A number of lawmakers and industry experts, however, say that Florida’s insurance problems started much earlier, even before DeSantis’ move to fund the reserve.

• “Florida’s insurance crisis started when Rick Scott gave a $52 million sweetheart deal to Heritage, a donor’s fledgling insurance company,” Debbie Mucarsel-Powell told Floricua. 

• Heritage Property Insurance and Casualty got its footing in Florida’s property insurance market in 2013, when Scott’s administration gave the company a $52 million deal to absorb 60,000 policyholders from Citizens, which the state created in 2002 as an insurer of last resort for homeowners.

• The $52 million deal came two months after Scott’s campaign received $110,000 from Heritage. The company, which was spending vast sums on lobbying, also donated $30,000 to the Florida state Republican Party.

• “Property insurance premiums skyrocketed thanks to rate increases from the same companies bankrolling Scott’s campaigns,” Mucarsel-Powell added.

• Currently, Heritage is under criminal investigation for systemic fraud. As detailed by whistleblowers in a 60 Minutes report published late in September, Heritage is being accused of telling clients that repairs would cost significantly less than what insurance adjusters estimated following Hurricane Ian in 2022, leaving owners concerned that the reimbursement issued by the insurance company would not cover the costs of repairs, which can often run into the tens of thousands of dollars. 

• “Heritage Insurance never would have had the chance to rip off thousands of Florida homeowners if Rick Scott didn’t hand them $52 million right after cashing a campaign check,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Floricua. “Scott put his donors’ interests first, and now Floridians are being crushed by an insurance crisis that started under his watch.”

• In his first year in office Scott also signed Senate Bill 408, despite critics’ warnings that the legislation allowed a reduction in overall coverage limits, shortened the window for filing sinkhole and storm-related damage claims, and limited claims for damage caused by sinkholes to primary structures, among other things. Insurance companies and business groups praised the bill.

• “Floridians deserve a Senator who will tackle the insurance crisis head-on and invest in making our state more resilient to extreme weather and climate change – something Rick Scott has proven incapable of over his 14 years of failed leadership.”