Louisiana lawmakers continue to debate several bills designed to address rising costs of home and auto insurance in the state, and the state’s insurance commissioner says it will take legislators making “unpopular” decision to pass these laws, which he says will reduce insurance prices in the state.
“Either way, I’m going to get blamed for it, so I’m going to own up to it,” Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple told WWL’s Newell Normand on Friday. “I acknowledge it’s tough for people to affect the changes. They were told for years and years that everything was fine (and) don’t worry about it, and the here we are in this crisis. I’m asking for some serious reform because we’re in a serious crisis. We’re not going to eke our way out of this. We’ve got to make some big changes, and I’m asking legislators to take some unpopular positions and to make some unpopular votes. If we don’t look at the long term—if we just look at the short term and what does this mean as an individual elected official—we’re not going to get where we need, and I’m willing to push and take responsibility.”
Temple says insurance companies are doing what they’re paid to do, and that’s pay out claims resulting from hurricanes and other natural disasters. However, Temple says Louisiana has to acknowledge that the one-year prescription law for insurance lawsuits is an outlier, with most states allowing for prescription periods of at least two years.
“I think in Louisiana, the reason we’ve had that one-year (period) is because it’s served as a backstop to at least help mitigate some of the excessive damages that have been awarded under phantom damage collateral source, but also over the frivolous litigation that we get,” Temple said. “If we’re going to be honest and say let’s change all these other things to make the system more fair and easier for the consumer to get the money they’re due by the insurance company, then let’s also increase the prescription.”
Temple says increasing the prescription period in Louisiana will only work if lawmakers approve the other reforms he’s proposing.
“We can’t just pick and choose,” Temple said. “We’ve got to do all of the reform. Not just bits and pieces.”
Those reforms include a bill repealing the state’s law prohibiting insurance companies from dropping a homeowner’s coverage after three years.