The insurance crisis continues to dog Louisiana residents with little done in recent years to reverse the trend of ever-higher premiums that have deeply hit the pocketbooks of vehicle and home owners, forcing some to forego having insurance at all.
In a discussion on the issue with political analyst Bernie Pinsonat, he told WWL News that it's not clear how the Governor Jeff Landry and the state legislature will handle the issue that has angered policy holders because of the inaction of the previous administration to address high policy prices in the Bayou State.
Pinsonat says recent polls indicate, "One of the biggest failings of the last four years by the the governor and the legislature was that we literally did nothing to lower the cost of insurance in Louisiana, automobile insurance.
So Pinsonat says, "There's a lot of pressure on Governor Landry, (insurance commissioner) Tim Teeple, the House and Senate to come up with solutions to lower insurance costs for the average Louisiana citizen." He says, "Yeah, they need relief."
Pinsonat points out that insurance rates in Louisiana are "outrageously high" compared to what some of neighboring states pay.
He thinks getting insurance rates lowered in our state needs to be a priority of the governor, not that he can get it this year, it's complicated.
Pinsonat says we've got to get insurance companies to reinvest in Louisiana.
He says, "Jeff Landry has to pay attention to that. It's something that's hurting the people he represents."
Pinsonat expects numerous bills to be filed during the legislative session to address the high insurance premium problem and make policies more affordable.
He says he doesn't know if the insurance crisis rises to the level of needing a special session to get rates rolled back, but whatever route is taken, it needs to be resolved "ASAP."
