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For immediate release
Michael Barry, 917-923-8245, michaelb@iii.org

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NEW YORK, March 28, 2023—Louisiana’s insurers paid out more than $23 billion after the 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons, driving a number of them into insolvency, according to an Issues Brief released today by the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I).

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“Twelve insurers that write homeowners coverage in Louisiana were declared insolvent between July 2021 and February 2023,” Trends and Insights: Louisiana’s Insurance Crisis states, in large part due to the severity of the insured loss payouts in the wake of 2020’s Hurricane Laura and 2021’s Hurricane Ida.�� The Laura losses across all insurance lines stood at in Louisiana a year after it made landfall whereas Ida prompted Louisiana’s insurers either to pay, or to set aside, in the aftermath of that storm.��

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Hurricanes Delta and Zeta, both of which made landfall in Louisiana in October 2020, cumulatively generated another $1.5 billion in insured auto, home, and business insurance claim payouts, according to the (LDI).

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“While Louisiana’s troubles owe more than Florida’s to hurricane-related losses, the state is no stranger to legal system abuse,” the Triple-I Issues Brief continues.�� “A regular on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s list, the state’s “onerous bad faith laws contribute significantly to inflated claim payments and awards,” according to a published last summer by several insurance industry trade groups.

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To increase the availability and to broaden the affordability of homeowners insurance coverage, Louisiana’s lawmakers revived this year the .�� The state authorized $45 million in matching grants for disbursement under the Program. It incentivizes new and existing Louisiana insurers to .�� One of the Program’s other public policy goals is to reduce the number of policyholders in Louisiana’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run property insurer of last resort.

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Complicating matters further for its policyholders, Louisiana is by far the in the U.S. for personal auto insurance, according to a 2022 study released by the Insurance Research Council (IRC).�� The IRC, like Triple-I, is an affiliate of The Institutes.

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RELATED LINKS

Triple-I Blog: Hurricanes Drive Louisiana Insured Losses, Insurer Insolvencies (August 2022)

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