According to the Louisiana Department of Insurance Commissioner, Tim Temple, the state must modernise its regulatory framework and fix its broken legal environment to prevent its ongoing insurance crisis from getting worse.
Temple observed in a recent statement that as natural disasters become more frequent and severe, the insurance industry is taking a harder look at each state to determine whether doing business there is worth the risk.
If you recall, State Farm announced it was pulling out of 72,000 California insurance policies last week, citing several factors including catastrophe exposure, inflation, reinsurance costs and outdated regulation.
Now, as per Temple, insurers and reinsurers have repeatedly told him they have three major concerns in Louisiana: catastrophe exposure, overregulation and a poor legal environment.
He continued, “I’m doing everything I can to address their first concern through my support for the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program and other resiliency efforts, and the industry is taking notice.
“But increasing resiliency is a long-term project that won’t attract companies to Louisiana on its own. We must also modernize our regulatory framework and fix our broken legal environment, and we must do both now.
“If we don’t enact bold change this session, I believe our ongoing insurance crisis will not just stay the same — it will get worse.”
Temple concluded, “To the residents of our great state, I hope you will join me in asking the leaders at the State Capitol to pass the meaningful insurance reform they are considering in this session.
“This is the only path to creating a competitive and stable insurance market that will help bring premium relief to Louisiana consumers.”
