Manatee Insurance Exchange in Florida
Manatee Insurance Exchange was licensed in early 2024 and stood among Florida’s ten largest residential insurers about two and a half years later — a Tampa-area reciprocal built by the executives who founded SafePoint, rated A (Exceptional) by Demotech and investment-grade BBB by KBRA. If your SafePoint policy renewed onto Manatee, or a Citizens takeout letter carrying its name just arrived, this page lays out the record — the SafePoint transition, the ratings, the 10% surplus contribution, how claims get filed — and how to see Manatee’s price beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers before you lock anything in.
Manatee at a glance
Carrier ratings verified directly with each rating agency.
Launched in 2024 by the executives who founded SafePoint
Manatee Insurance Exchange is the youngest company profiled in this center, and the résumé behind it is why it belongs here. Florida’s insurance regulator approved the exchange’s formation in January 2024 and issued its certificate of authority that February — and the people organizing it were not new to this market. Manatee Risk Management, LLC, the Florida company that manages the exchange, is led by SafePoint’s founding executives; David Flitman, who founded SafePoint in 2013, signed the formation filings as Manatee Risk Management’s President and CEO.
The rating agencies said the connection plainly. Demotech’s release called Manatee “the newest carrier within Safepoint Group,” and Kroll Bond Rating Agency described the exchange as “established by SPI’s management team” — SPI being SafePoint Insurance Company. When Demotech assigned its rating, it called the senior team “experienced, battle-tested veterans of the residential property insurance marketplace.”
The longer version: Flitman is a credentialed actuary — FCAS, MAAA — with a career spent largely in reinsurance and catastrophe pricing, the disciplines Florida property runs on, and the bench around him includes SafePoint’s chief financial officer, its chief underwriting officer with more than four decades in the business, and its chief claims officer. The carrier’s own materials put the team’s combined experience at “over 100 years in the insurance industry — more than half spent in the state of Florida.” The exchange operates from Temple Terrace, in the Tampa area.
What that team built shows up in state data: Florida OIR (May 2026) counts 221,520 Manatee policies in force — roughly $718 million of premium, inside the top ten among Florida residential insurers — about two and a half years after licensing. Growth came from three directions at once: SafePoint households whose coverage renewed onto the exchange, one of the largest Citizens takeout programs in the state, and everyday voluntary business — roughly 700 new policies written in May 2026 alone, by the same state data.
For you the practical question is price and coverage for your address: Cornerstone quotes Manatee beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers on the same answers, so the exchange’s number earns its place on your comparison rather than arriving alone.
What happened to SafePoint — the precise answer
Is SafePoint now Manatee? It is the most-searched question about this company, so here is the mechanism, from the state’s records. SafePoint Insurance Company non-renewed its Florida personal-lines book, and Manatee — the new exchange its founding executives had organized — offered those households replacement coverage as each policy reached its renewal date. The regulator reviewed the plan before it ran, down to the communication plan and the FAQ mailed to affected policyholders.
Three things carried across with the move:
- Familiar coverage. Manatee’s coverage options were built to mirror SafePoint’s, so the policy offered at renewal was shaped like the one it replaced.
- Earned discounts. Discounts a household held at SafePoint were preserved on the Manatee renewal rather than reset.
- Claims continuity. Claims on SafePoint policies stayed with SafePoint — a loss from before your renewal date still belongs to SafePoint’s claims operation.
SafePoint itself is neither gone nor in trouble: it remains a licensed Florida insurer with its own Demotech A (Exceptional) rating, affirmed June 2026, and its Florida book has simply wound down as renewals moved. Operational threads still connect the two — flood claims on Manatee policies are serviced through SafePoint’s flood portal, per Manatee’s own claims instructions.
The accurate label is a renewal transition — planned, reviewed by the state, and carried out between two companies that share a leadership team; no policy ended mid-term, and no claim changed hands. If something on the new declarations page reads differently than you expect, that is a before-the-storm conversation: call or text 813.920.8181 and, working with your agent, put the old policy and the new one side by side.
What Manatee writes — with the state’s counts as proof
Florida OIR’s May 2026 policy-type data breaks Manatee’s 221,520-policy book into the lines below — and in-force counts are the most honest statement of what a carrier actually writes.
- Homeowners — about 106,700 owner-occupied policies, the core of the book.
- Dwelling-fire / landlord — about 69,400 policies, one of the bigger landlord books in the state and proof the exchange competes for rental business deliberately.
- Condo unit-owners — about 27,300 policies.
- Mobile home — about 9,100 policies, a line plenty of carriers skip.
The marketed shelf adds equipment breakdown coverage, wind-mitigation discounts, personal flood, and — a genuine rarity — a mini-farm endorsement. On flood, the Florida question is always how much coverage the home needs, never whether — and pricing it next to the home quote costs nothing. Because the exchange was built to receive SafePoint’s book, its coverage options mirror SafePoint’s legacy offerings.
Manatee writes in Florida only today and sells exclusively through independent agencies — which works in your favor, because its price always arrives through an agent who can set other carriers’ numbers beside it. At our agency, that lineup is 20+ Florida homeowners carriers on a single entry.
The Citizens takeout record: #2 in the program, two years running
Citizens depopulation — the state-run program that moves policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation back to private carriers — has been one of Manatee’s main growth engines, and Citizens publishes the scorecard. By Citizens’ own statistics, Manatee assumed 72,187 policies in 2024, its first year in the program; 116,712 in 2025, the second-largest total of any carrier statewide; and 36,487 in 2026 through late July, second-largest again. That is roughly 225,000 policies in under two years.
One reading habit keeps takeout numbers honest: separate the ceiling from the actual. Approval headlines announce how many policies a carrier may assume in a round; the figures above are policies actually assumed, from Citizens’ published statistics — the record a carrier should be judged on.
If a takeout letter naming Manatee has arrived, two mechanics control your choices. The 20% rule: when the carrier’s estimated premium comes within 20% of your Citizens renewal estimate, Florida law ends your eligibility to remain with Citizens. The deadline: the letter’s Offer Form carries a date, and your election needs to be registered by it. And a Manatee offer’s estimated renewal premium must display the exchange’s 10% surplus contribution, so the number you compare is the full number. Our guide to reading a Citizens takeout offer walks the letter through line by line.
After any assumption, the next question is the first renewal — and no number on this page predicts yours. A renewal is assembled from parts — the inflation adjustment on your Coverage A rebuild limit, your home’s documented roof age, your insurance score, and any endorsement changes — each weighed differently by each carrier. Our guide to why Florida home insurance premiums move unpacks the drivers, and working with your agent, a side-by-side against 20+ Florida homeowners carriers shows whether the renewal in your hand is also the strongest number available for your home.
How Manatee is rated — plainly
Two agencies rate the exchange — read each the way we do, as agency, grade, and date:
- Demotech: Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional), affirmed June 2026 and held since the exchange’s launch — a strong grade from the agency that reviews most Florida homeowners specialists.
- KBRA: BBB insurance financial strength, Stable outlook, affirmed July 2026 — an investment-grade rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency, first assigned in February 2024, the month the exchange was authorized.
KBRA’s 2026 review also listed what the grade rests on: a solid catastrophe reinsurance program, improved risk-based capitalization, experienced management, high-quality investments, and conservative reserving — the agency’s own list, quoted because it shows the footing under the letter grade.
Manatee carries no AM Best rating — and neither does SafePoint, so if a review site prints an AM Best grade beside either name, the site is wrong. That absence is normal in this market: most Florida homeowners specialists are rated by Demotech or KBRA, whose methods were built around single-state catastrophe writers. Any rating reads in three parts — who issued it, what the grade is, and when it was last affirmed — and our guide to Florida home insurance financial strength ratings lays out how each agency approaches Florida carriers.
Manatee is an admitted Florida carrier, so its policyholders carry the backing of the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, the statutory safety net behind admitted insurers.
A reciprocal exchange, told straight — ownership, the 10%, and claims
Manatee is organized as a reciprocal insurance exchange, and the structure decides who owns the company: the members do. Policyholders — subscribers, formally — collectively own the exchange. Manatee Risk Management runs it on their behalf under a power of attorney each member signs at application, and a Subscribers’ Advisory Committee drawn from the membership supervises the exchange’s finances and operations. A stock insurer is organized around shareholders; a reciprocal around the people it insures — neither structure is better or worse; they answer to different owners.
Two money facts complete the picture, and both belong in the open:
- Policies are non-assessable. Members cannot be billed extra later to cover the exchange’s losses — a real consumer protection, made binding in the state’s approval.
- Every policy carries a 10% surplus contribution. Each member pays 10% of annual premium on top of the premium itself, deposited into the exchange’s surplus — the capital that stands behind every member’s claims, including yours — and retained there for the benefit and protection of all subscribers. Returning a contribution requires the Subscriber Agreement’s conditions plus the state’s prior written approval; a mid-term cancellation refund is the exception. Treat the 10% as part of the policy’s real price when you compare carriers — we do.
The capital story is on the record too: the exchange launched on $25 million in surplus notes, per KBRA, with start-up costs borne primarily by the management company rather than by members — and KBRA’s 2026 affirmation credited improved risk-based capitalization since.
Claims, finally — the routing deserves exact words: file directly with Manatee — 866-347-5131, option 1, or [email protected]. Flood claims run on their own track: 888-598-0446, serviced through SafePoint’s flood portal, per Manatee’s own instructions. The carrier’s claims operation is the fastest route to an adjuster. Your agent’s work sits before any loss — what the policy is designed to do, where the hurricane deductible sits, whether the coverage still fits the home — so call or text 813.920.8181 with those questions any day of the year. What a policy covers in a particular loss always comes down to its own terms — which is exactly why the coverage conversation belongs ahead of the season.
Two ways to use this page
Already a Manatee member?
Whether your policy renewed over from SafePoint, arrived through a Citizens assumption, or was written fresh, it earns the same yearly look — discounts and home updates only count once they are written into the policy. Share your current policy through Canopy Connect, our secure link that reads your declarations page so you skip the retyping, and working with your agent, the review starts from what you hold — Coverage A, deductibles, the 10% inside the real price — and finishes with what 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers say about the same home.
Shopping and seeing Manatee quoted?
A Manatee quote means a top-ten Florida insurer has priced your home — a useful data point, not a finished decision. One entry with us returns Manatee’s number beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers, every quote built on the same coverage answers, with a licensed Florida agent to walk through the differences that matter.
Manatee Insurance Exchange: your questions, answered
Is Manatee Insurance a good company?
Here is the public-record footing. Manatee Insurance Exchange was licensed in early 2024 and reached 221,520 policies in force by May 2026 (Florida OIR data) — a top-ten Florida residential insurer in about two and a half years. It holds a Demotech Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional), affirmed June 2026, and an investment-grade BBB (Stable outlook) from KBRA, affirmed July 2026. Its policies are non-assessable, and the exchange is run by the executives who founded SafePoint — a team the carrier’s own materials credit with over 100 years of combined industry experience, more than half in Florida. Whether it is the right carrier for your home is a lineup question: set its quote beside 20+ Florida homeowners carriers priced on the same answers, and let the side-by-side settle it.
Is SafePoint now Manatee — what happened to SafePoint?
Two related companies, not one renamed. SafePoint’s founding executives organized Manatee Insurance Exchange, which Florida licensed in early 2024. As SafePoint non-renewed its Florida policies, Manatee offered those households replacement coverage at renewal under a plan the state reviewed in advance — coverage options built to mirror SafePoint’s, with earned SafePoint discounts preserved. Claims on SafePoint policies stayed with SafePoint, and SafePoint remains a licensed insurer holding its own Demotech A (Exceptional) rating, affirmed June 2026; its Florida book has simply wound down as renewals moved to the exchange. In short: SafePoint’s leadership built a new member-owned exchange, and the Florida book now lives there.
What is a reciprocal insurance exchange?
A reciprocal is an insurer owned by the people it insures. Manatee’s policyholders — called subscribers — collectively own the exchange; Manatee Risk Management runs it on their behalf under a power of attorney signed at application; and a Subscribers’ Advisory Committee drawn from the membership supervises finances and operations. Manatee’s policies are also non-assessable, which means members can never be billed extra to cover the exchange’s losses. A stock insurer is organized around shareholders instead — neither structure is better or worse; they answer to different owners.
What is the 10% surplus contribution on my Manatee policy?
Every Manatee policy carries a surplus contribution equal to 10% of the annual premium, paid on top of the premium itself. The money is deposited into the exchange’s surplus — the capital that stands behind all members’ claims — and retained there for the benefit and protection of all subscribers. It is not an assessment and it is not a service fee; it is how a member-owned exchange builds the capital backing your own policy. Returning a contribution requires the conditions in the Subscriber Agreement plus the state’s prior written approval — mid-term cancellation refunds excepted. Count the 10% as part of the policy’s real price when comparing carriers — on a Citizens takeout offer, the estimated renewal premium must already display it.
How is Manatee rated — does it have an AM Best rating?
Manatee holds two ratings: a Demotech Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional), affirmed June 2026 and in place since the exchange launched, and a KBRA insurance financial strength rating of BBB with a Stable outlook, affirmed July 2026 and first assigned in February 2024. It has no AM Best rating, and neither does SafePoint — a normal arrangement in this market, where most Florida homeowners specialists are rated by Demotech or KBRA, whose methods grew up around single-state catastrophe writers. Read any carrier’s rating in three parts: the agency, the grade, and the date it was last affirmed.
I got a Citizens takeout letter naming Manatee — what does it mean?
It means the state’s depopulation program selected your policy for assumption by Manatee, and the record behind the name is substantial: by Citizens’ own statistics, Manatee assumed 116,712 policies in 2025 and 36,487 in 2026 through late July — the second-largest totals statewide both years — and roughly 225,000 policies overall since joining the program in late 2024. Two mechanics control your options. If Manatee’s estimated premium comes within 20% of your Citizens renewal estimate, Florida law ends your eligibility to remain with Citizens; and your election has to be registered by the date on the Offer Form. Note that Manatee’s estimated renewal premium must display the exchange’s 10% surplus contribution — the letter’s number is the full number. Before the deadline, working with your agent, price the same home across 20+ Florida homeowners carriers so you make the election with every option in view.
Will Manatee insure my rental property?
Manatee’s rental appetite is proven by the state’s own count: about 69,400 dwelling-fire and landlord policies in force (Florida OIR data, May 2026), one of the bigger landlord books in Florida. A book that size means the exchange competes for rental business deliberately. Whether it prices your rental best is a property-by-property question, because construction, age, roof, and location carry different weight with every carrier. One entry prices the property across our landlord markets, Manatee among them, and the comparison shows which market fits the property best.
How do I file a Manatee claim?
File directly with the carrier: call 866-347-5131 and choose option 1, or email [email protected]. Flood claims run on their own track — call 888-598-0446; they are serviced through SafePoint’s flood portal, per Manatee’s own instructions. Filing with the carrier is the fastest path to an adjuster. Your agent’s part comes before any loss: what the policy is designed to do, where the deductibles sit, whether the coverage still fits the home — call or text 813.920.8181 with those questions on any quiet day, long before a claim. What a policy covers in any particular loss comes down to its own terms, which is why that conversation belongs before you ever need the claims number.
