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# Florida's Insurance Meltdown
- URL: https://www.thecloser.fm/floridas-insurance-meltdown/
- Published: 2023-12-18T11:54:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T13:41:50.000Z
- Description: Florida owns a massive property insurance company that’s been gobbling up policies while rates rise and some private insurers leave the state.
- Author: Bradley Hope
- Tags: Podcast, #ben, #aimee

Last summer, a story about why Florida’s property insurance market was in shambles grabbed my attention. 

The story – [“Why Insurance Companies Are Fleeing Florida”](https://heatmap.news/economy/why-insurance-companies-are-fleeing-florida?ref=thecloser.fm) – was published by the Heatmap, an independent climate news website and was written by a reporter I’ve known for years, Matthew Zeitlin. What really got me to pay attention was that hurricanes were not *really* the problem. Not exactly what I expected in a story on a climate news site. 

[Listen Now!](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-closer-deals-change-the-world/id1668774101?ref=thecloser.fm)

I sent Zeitlin a message, saying that it was a great piece and he wrote back something like “yeah, and I didn’t even get into the Florida roof scam.” Now I was hooked. Florida... roof... scam?

I had to know more and the more I dug into the Florida roof scam, the more I was convinced this had to be an episode of *The Closer*.

And that’s what we have for you this week – a look at the meltdown in the Florida property insurance market. It’s a wild story, with shady contractors running amok in subdivisions, unscrupulous trial attorneys, and a state-owned insurer swooping in to clean up the mess by taking on more and more risk.

In the end, through a quirk in how the state-owned insurer operates, every Floridian who has an insurance policy – with a private company, for a house or an auto policy, it doesn’t matter – could end up on the hook if a massive storm hits.

It’s a fascinating, twisting episode. 

![Cover art for The Closer episode 10: palm trees bent by wind on a lime-green circle](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/b2/3ab24ac3-6659-4e40-b780-779a1acb1fb4/content/images/2023/12/231208_TheCloserS3E10Cover-min.png)

For ad-free listening and exclusive bonuses with our Closers, [subscribe to Brazen+ now!](https://brazen.fm/plus?utm%5Fsource=closer.newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=post%5Ffooter)

[Listen Now!](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-closer-deals-change-the-world/id1668774101?ref=thecloser.fm)

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