Homeowners Choice of Clearwater approved to take over 60,000 Citizens policies

Homeowners Choice Inc., a 3-year-old property insurer based in Clearwater, has received regulatory approval to assume 60,000 home­owners policies from state-run Citizens Property Insurance Co. The decision represents one of the biggest steps by the state this year to "depopulate" policies from Citizens, which has more than a million property insurance policies. As State Farm and other major insurers shed thousands of Florida policies, Citizens is at risk of expanding further. That places greater risk on all insured Floridians, who can be assessed to pay for any claims Citizens cannot cover after a major hurricane. Under authorization by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Homeowners Choice can take a maximum of 30,000 policies out of Citizens in December. OIR spokesman Tom Zutell said the company would be re-evaluated next year before it could take out the balance of policies approved.

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