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Citizens Prop Moving Another Half Million Policies To Private Insurers

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - More than a half-million Citizens Property Insurance Corp. policies have been targeted for moving to private insurers this year.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has announced that it approved another round of private-insurer "takeouts" of Citizens policies, this time for nearly 50,000 policies, which will occur in May.

In all, 536,736 policies have been approved for takeout this year.

The actual number of policies that will eventually move into the private market is not expected to reach the approved maximum, as private firms typically grab the least-risky policies. In 2014, of the 1.1 million policies approved for takeout, nearly 700,000 didn't move into private hands.

The three companies approved for the May takeouts are Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance, Mount Beacon Insurance and Southern Oak Insurance. Of the policies that could change hands, up to 47,831 will be for coverage on single-family properties and 500 for commercial-residential properties.

Citizens, which has been working to shift its least-risky policies into the private market, has reduced its number of policies from 1.5 million in 2012 to 661,161 as of Dec. 31, 2014.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

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