Louisiana insurer incentive program proving successful, commissioner says
In addition, SafePoint Insurance and an affiliate are taking on nearly 20K policies from Louisiana Citizens Insurance.
Companies participating in the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program have written more than 17,000 policies as of May 31, 2022, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
Jim Donelon, Louisiana’s insurance commissioner, said the activity from participating companies is proof the incentive program is working to increase the availability of home insurance in the state.
Noting that without the program thousands of homeowners would be unable to afford coverage, Donelon said in a release: “Unfortunately, many more of our friends and neighbors still need help. The incentive program companies will continue writing in the coming months, and I expect their success will encourage other insurers to resume writing in our market.”
The program, which is similar to a state initiative launched following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, offers matching grants to insurers to write new policies in Louisiana. The initiative aims to entice private insurers back into the state, while driving down the policy count for Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
State lawmakers initially approved $45 million for the program, but the program drew funding requests of more than $60 million.
In other property insurance news from the state, SafePoint Insurance and its affiliate Cajun Underwriters (CURE) are taking on 19,689 policies from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. with an assumption date of October 1, 2023.
SafePoint and its affiliate were the only entities that took part in Round 18 of the Louisiana Citizens depopulation process, according to the insurer of last resort.
“I strongly urge all Citizens policyholders to contact their agents now and request to be notified if they have an opportunity to leave Citizens for SafePoint or CURE,” said Commissioner Donelon. “Getting policyholders out of Citizens is vital to our state’s economic recovery, and I’ve been troubled by the high number of depopulation requests that have gone unfulfilled in recent months.”
Louisiana Citizens is a separate, unrelated entity to Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. While they are both residual insurance markets, developed to serve as carriers of last resort, they operate under different rules. For example, Louisiana Citizen’s rates must be higher than those available on the private market, while Florida’s Citizens is allowed to offer rates that are competitive with private market insurers.
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