Home Insurance Companies Maximize Profits At Louisianans’ Expense
LOUISIANA – Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) released a new report titled “Louisiana’s Insurance Crisis Leaves Homeowners Exploited While Insurance Companies Turn Massive Profits,” detailing the state’s insurance crisis last week. The organization held a press call on Friday with State Senator Royce Duplessis, Insurance Commissioner, Emeritus Dave Jones, Ben Riggs, Executive Director of Real Reform Louisiana, Roishetta Sibley Ozane, Founder & CEO of Vessel Project of Louisiana, and Louisiana homeowners to discuss the escalating home insurance crisis in the state.
Speakers and experts discussed (full recording available here) how lax oversight, anti-consumer measures, and limited policyholder protections have become a mechanism for insurance corporations to extract wealth from homeowners while providing less coverage, and the urgent need to address this escalating affordability crisis.
“Insurance companies and the insurance system have been failing Louisiana families for far too long. The policy conversation is way too focused on what the insurance industry says it needs, and not nearly focused enough on what policyholders need,” said Senator Royce Duplessis (District 5). “I want to just be clear, we want companies to do business here, but it can’t come at the expense of fairness. And right now, fairness is being tossed to the side for the sake of making our state attractive to insurance companies; and it’s not working, it has never worked, and it’s time for our state to turn the corner. To have a healthy insurance market, we need more balance and to work to ensure insurers fulfill legitimate claims. We’re going to be fighting for more balance and fairness this upcoming session.”
“A whole lot of people are losing their homes because of insurance, and not having the proper insurance, and a whole lot of insurance carriers or agents don’t really inform people about [the proper insurance steps],” said Jimmy Thomas, owner of Brightway Agency and a Louisiana resident. “And, two years later, the premiums have increased, and people are going without insurance because they can’t afford it, and some people are losing their homes.”
“Litigation isn’t to blame for the problem. The lax regulatory environment in Louisiana has done nothing for policyholders but turn them into prey for giant insurance companies,” said Ben Riggs, Executive Director of Real Reform Louisiana. “The truth about storm victims is that they want to get their claim paid, they want to get their home repaired, and they want to get back to life as usual as quickly as possible. No one wants to litigate that, but [the anti-litigation] narrative was used as a justification for raising rates in Louisiana. Now, it’s a place that has become completely unaffordable.”
“The policies and regulations and laws that Louisiana has been enacting have made the insurance crisis worse,” said Dave Jones, Insurance Commissioner, Emeritus. “It’s manifested in rate increases, it’s manifested in non-renewals and denials. It’s been manifested as well in an extraordinary increase in non-payment of claims, all of which are leaving residents of Louisiana in a terrible, terrible predicament. At the same time, the insurers have been making substantial returns, both in underwriting and in investing.”
“We’re still not being fairly compensated when it comes to these disasters, or after a crisis hits, and it’s time for [insurers] to pay up. They’re not paying up, they’re not paying what they’ve promised, and we cannot continue to go on like this,” said Roishetta Sibley Ozane, Founder & CEO of Vessel Project of Louisiana. “Insurers are profiting. Even when we feel like they have pulled out of Louisiana, they still are making money off of Louisiana.”
“After Hurricane Laura and Delta destroyed my home, I thought having insurance meant I’d be able to rebuild and move forward,” said JoAnn McArthur, a Southwest Louisiana resident. “Instead, it turned into years of fighting claims, losing coverage, and watching my premium jump to thousands of dollars for far less protection. No family that’s already survived a disaster should have to go through that just to keep a roof over their head.”
“This is a manufactured crisis—and Louisiana families are paying the price while insurance companies and their political allies profit,” said Kyle Herrig, Spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “It’s a fraudulent business model that prioritized extracting profits over paying claims, enabled by regulators who used taxpayer money to subsidize doomed insurers, and protected by lawmakers who gutted consumer protections while killing every reform that would help struggling homeowners.”
Per UAF’s new analysis, insurance companies are taking advantage of Louisiana homeowners, raising premiums by 34.6% since 2019, canceling policies at five times the previous rate, and systematically denying legitimate claims even as they funnel hundreds of millions to shell companies. UAF also found that unregulated and underregulated home insurance corporations tend to exploit families during their most vulnerable moments, and it’s acutely impacting Black Americans. Louisiana has the third-highest rate of uninsured homes in the nation.
Read the full UAF report here. To connect with a speaker or home insurance expert, email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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