Elephants and donkeys and porcupines. Oh my! In an exclusive interview with The Floridian, Scott Jewett, the Libertarian candidate for Florida Governor, shared his vision for a brighter Sunshine State, which begins with tackling Florida’s insurance “disaster.”
If Jewett could sign one law tomorrow – without budget constraints or political obstacles – he says he’d use that pen to overhaul Florida’s insurance system.
“I would push the Legislature to pass my bill to change the regulators here, and that would have an immediate positive impact on Floridians,” Jewitt said, arguing it would save families “thousands of dollars a year.”
“It would protect people from seeing huge increases tomorrow,” Jewett added. “I would sign that in a minute.”
He explained that his drafted bill would overhaul insurance regulations and oversight, claiming that current policies have allowed premiums to skyrocket.
“I’ve talked to people who are in fixed incomes who are forced to leave the state because they can’t afford the added cost of insurance,” Jewett added, noting that most of the cost “goes into litigation and adjusters and bureaucracy as opposed to protecting your home.”
Specifically, “the litigation process and the adjusters and the bureaucracy of getting a claim paid” are the hindrance.
Calling it a “disaster,” Jewett claimed that “the average household is paying $7,800 a year for wind insurance,” adding that “last year, we paid $65 billion dollars, the State of Florida. And, so far, less than a billion has even been paid out.”
“Two years ago, 8% of the total collected was paid out in claims,” he further explained, adding that Floridians are “paying a multiple of what we should for something, and it’s really hurting people. It’s hurting seniors more than anything.”
If Jewett was elected Florida governor in 2026, he would address rising premiums and protecting homeowners through a three-step solution.
First, Jewett says he would seek legislative support to restructure the state’s insurance regulatory system.
Second, he proposes allowing insurance co-ops, arguing that pooling households and resources could create “a more democratic process for distribution of claims.”
Finally, Jewett wants Florida to adopt “loser pays” laws, which require the losing party in a lawsuit to pay both sides’ legal fees. He argues that the absence of such laws encourages excessive litigation in insurance disputes.
He pointed to his own experience after a recent local storm. When his roof began leaking, a roofing company told him the cause was faulty flashing and not storm damage. Still, he said he was encouraged to pursue a legal claim to get “a brand-new roof” through insurance. “That’s not how it should function,” he expressed. “It should be there to protect me against a loss. Not compensate me like a lottery ticket.”
After being told that it would take about a year and a half in the legal system for him to “win,” Jewett emphasized that “that’s part of the problem.” “If I had to pay for that attorney, then, like most countries where loser pays – if you don’t win your lawsuit, you gotta pay the lawyers on both sides – I wouldn’t consider that unless I had a really good solid case.”
Jewett announced his candidacy for Florida Governor earlier this year in a video wherein he embraced a "Libertarian 2.0" approach.
