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Big Insurances Record Profits are Destroying Louisiana

Business is good for big insurance. Unfortunately, there is a human cost.

The Advocate recently published the first installment in a new series from reporter Sam Karlin, detailing the crushing effects of Louisiana’s insurance crisis on people in South Louisiana.

Dirk Guidry, a Chauvin resident and local business owner who Karlin interviews in his story, summed it up best: “It’s not going to be hurricanes that run people out of here. It’s going to be the insurance rates.”

Insurance is simply unaffordable, with insurance rates quadrupling for some residents in recent years. According to Karlin, Guidry now pays nearly $20,000 to insure his home and business, while another resident he interviewed has seen her rates go from $1,200 to $3,200.

“An unrelenting insurance crisis is ripping the social fabric of Chauvin and communities like it across south Louisiana, leaving beleaguered residents who have lived here all their lives to wonder for the first time if and how they can ever recover,” writes Karlin.

Meanwhile, the insurance industry reports record profits. The property and casualty insurance industry made $88 billion in profits in 2023 due to colossal rate increases and a whopping $121 billion return on investments.

Business is good for big insurance. Unfortunately, there is a human cost. It is ripping apart whole communities, drowning out a proud way of life, and forcing families anchored in South Louisiana for generations out of their homes.

The industry claims it’s reeling from the crisis. But these specious claims are little more than lip service aimed at misleading lawmakers and further bolstering their position. Louisiana’s insurance crisis is one-sided. Big insurance is using the suffering of Louisiana families and small businesses as leverage to strip away policyholders’ rights and further pad their profits.

Commissioner Tim Temple approves every rate increase. Commissioner Temple was elected to represent the people of Louisiana and regulate the insurance industry—not regulate policyholders and represent the industry.

Recent research from Harvard University shows that states that fail to scrutinize rate increases pay the highest rates. Louisiana residents desperately need Commissioner Tim Temple to hold big insurers accountable, lower rates, demand more transparency, and push for insurance reforms that strengthen consumer protections.

Read “Pushed to the breaking point, coastal Louisiana fears insurance rates are killing their towns” by Sam Karlin from The Advocate.