When golf-ball-sized hail and 60 mph winds slammed the east coast of Florida in May, Chris Jadin came home to a truck covered in dents and glass all over the floor of his house, his skylight shattered by the falling ice. He would soon find out that the damage was even worse: he would need to replace the entire roof of his house, and soon, because hurricane season was less than a month away.
Like hundreds of thousands of homeowners in Florida, his insurance company was Citizens, often dubbed the “insurer of last resort” – a state-run option meant for homeowners who can’t find coverage anywhere else. But when he called Citizens, Jadin said he was surprised to hear that it could no longer help him. Citizens had transferred his policy to Trident Reciprocal Exchange, a brand-new insurance company he had never heard of.
Jadin’s experience is part of a much larger push to “depopulate” Citizens and push Florida homeowners into new, often untested insurance companies. Sometimes, it happens without them knowing and against their will. Consumer advocates and industry critics say that some of these companies are more interested in quick financial gains than lasting protection and might be siphoning profits instead of saving for future disasters.
CBS News has spoken with former executives and other insiders familiar with Trident’s operations who allege that the company is doing just that: diverting millions of dollars in customers’ premium payments to investors — dollars that are...
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