One of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s few non-culture war programs–a socialized insurance program for homeowners who lost their private coverage–will be put to its first major test since dozens of property policy carriers pulled out from the state.

As the Orlando Sentinel reports, Florida Citizens Property Insurance, the state-operated home insurer of last resort, has seen a significant increase in the number of properties in its portfolio since Farmers and more than two dozen other companies canceled homeowners’ policies or announced their plans to phase out coverage in the state due to Floridians’ persistent habit of having homes destroyed by hurricanes, floods, sinkholes and the odd airborne vehicle.  Annoying the insurance companies even more:  Floridians also have a habit of making frequent claims against their property insurance:  79% of homeowner policy lawsuits come from Florida, likely because the state’s loosely-worded insurance regulations allowed for companies to deny claims that should routinely be covered.

Currently, Florida CPI has more than half a trillion dollars of risk with all the properties it covers.  Initial estimates of the damage from Hurricane Idalia runs from $3- to $6 billion in Florida, with total damage across the US running into the $20 billion range.  Should Florida CPI run out of cash to reimburse policy holders, the state will assess a special “hurricane tax” on all insured property owners in the state, not just the homeowners in the pool, thereby making taxpayers pick up the tab for repairs to homes made in a place so dangerous, it’s not conducive to capitalism for private companies to offer mandated insurance.  DeSantis believes average Floridians should be made to repay a multi-millionaire whose house on the Gulf Coast is destroyed, but he wouldn’t dare make that multi-millionaire pay more taxes to cover healthcare costs for those average Floridian.