Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says he is urging insurance companies to cover their policyholders' evacuation expenses, even if local authorities did not order a mandatory evacuation.
Donelon says the problem is many smaller insurers that rely on the reinsurance industry to help cover their payouts may not have the flexibility.
"That reinsurance says 'we take on the risk that you are bound by, not by what you may voluntarily grant in the aftermath of a catastrophe,'" said Donelon. "So under their policy, they don't owe the 14 days when there's not a mandatory evacuation."
Donelon told WWL's Newell Normand and Tommy Tucker Thursday morning that Allstate, USAA, PURE, and Louisiana Citizens are the only home insurers in the state to agree to cover those costs. Donelon said he would be talking to executives at State Farm later in the day to try and convince them to join in.
"They have a process that they have to got through to their board or to their CEO or whatever their process is in order to agree to what we're urging them to do," he said. "I'm cautiously optimistic that at least 90 percent of the market will voluntarily waive that mandatory evacuation requirement."