Insurance Law

Private insurers start to re-enter south Louisiana market

By David Rossmiller

I'm not so sure I'd get too excited by the developments reported in this Rebecca Mowbray story in the Times-Picayune, at least not yet.  The story says insurers are once again beginning to compete for many policies that, as of late, have been held by Citizens Property.  Citizens, of course, is the state-run insurer of last resort that has been marked by a level of incompetence that would be hilarious if it was not so injurious to the state's residents. 

More data needs to be seen to see if this is a trend or merely anecdotal evidence, but at first blush, a working hypothesis could be that Louisiana's approach of eschewing increased regulation -- in direct contrast to Florida -- has allowed market forces to begin to act to bring increased consumer choice.  It doesn't mean policies will be cheap, however -- we are talking about some high-risk properties here.  

Full post as published by Insurance Coverage Law Blog on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).