• The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved Orion180 Select Insurance Company and Orion180 Insurance Company to operate as property and casualty insurers in the state.
• The Indiana-based insurers utilized an expansion application to enter Florida’s market, which is available to well-established companies in their home state seeking to expand.
• This move is a result of legislative reforms aimed at attracting more insurance companies to Florida’s market and providing consumers with more options for homeowners insurance, following the approval of Tailrow Insurance Company and Mainsail Insurance Company earlier this year

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation this week approved Orion180 Select Insurance Company and Orion180 Insurance Company to form as property and casualty insurers within the state.

The pair of Indiana-based insurers applied to operate in Florida using an expansion application, according to the OIR, which is for use by companies in good standing in their state of domicile that wish to expand their business into a uniform state. Both companies are listed as having Florida administrative offices in Melbourne, per the OIR index.

“OIR has been diligently working to attract more companies, jobs, and capital to Florida’s insurance market since the passage of recent legislative reforms,” said OIR Commissioner Michael Yaworsky. “Today’s announcement is another sign that the reforms are having a positive impact on Florida’s insurance market. We look forward to continuing this momentum and giving consumers more options in the market for homeowners insurance.”

The companies become the third and fourth entities to be approved for operations within Florida this year after Tailrow Insurance Company and Mainsail Insurance Company were authorized in April and August, respectively, following the passage of HB 837 earlier this year that sought to remedy the state’s insurance market and attract new providers.

The bill, among other provisions, sought to reduce frivolous litigation by reserving attorney fee multipliers, requiring proof that an insurer breached its agreement with a policyholder before a lawsuit can be filed, and preventing insureds from transferring their unilateral right to receive attorneys’ fees to contractors.

At the time of the bill signings, Florida homeowners paid nearly three times higher than the national average for home insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute, partly as a result of an exodus of insurers that have left the state. At the start of the current calendar year, 15 insurers have been deemed insolvent since 2020, leaving Floridians with a dwindling number of market options.