During a campaign stop on the “Defending the Florida Dream Tour” in Pinellas County, Byron Donalds rolled out a new strategy aimed at tackling the state’s notoriously high property insurance rates.
The proposal, dubbed the “Insurer Scorecard,” seeks to strip away the complexity of shopping for coverage by forcing companies to compete in a public, data-driven arena.
The core of the plan involves a major overhaul of Florida’s existing CHOICES Rate Comparison tool. Rather than just showing price tags, the new dashboard would rank companies based on performance metrics that usually stay hidden in the fine print—specifically how often they approve claims and how fast they actually cut checks to homeowners.
“Floridians need relief from sky-high property insurance rates. Consumers deserve to know what insurance costs and how well it performs before they buy,” Donalds said during the announcement. “The Insurer Scorecard will help lower premiums and put consumers in control of their insurance.”
To make the data reliable, the plan would mandate that insurance carriers standardize how they report premiums, rate hikes, and claims outcomes. Donalds noted that the proposal includes enforcement measures for companies that fail to comply with the new transparency standards.
The initiative also calls for a statewide awareness campaign to ensure residents actually know how to use the comparison tools to find better deals. The move leans into a growing bipartisan push in the Florida Legislature, where transparency-focused insurance bills have recently gained traction.
“Florida led the nation in government transparency with the Sunshine Law. Insurance shouldn’t be the last industry exempt from accountability,” Donalds said. “By putting this easy-to-use comparison tool in consumers’ hands, we are giving Floridians the information they need to make better decisions, drive competition across the market, and help lower property insurance costs for families and seniors.”
Donalds framed the policy as a market-based solution, suggesting that when performance data is public, efficient insurers will be rewarded with more customers, naturally forcing prices down across the board.
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