In Louisiana, Private Insurers Come Marching in

Good news out of the Pelican State. While similar state-run insurance entities in Florida and Texas continue to grow at unsustainable paces, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has managed to reduce its policy count by 43% since its post-Katrina high of 174,000 in February 2008.

Louisiana Citizens is now just the eighth-largest property insurer in the state, with a market share of 3.8%, down from a high of 4.1%.

Most recently, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon approved another 6,877 policies to be moved to private carriers. In fact, demand for the policies was significantly higher, as a group of four insurers that includes newcomer Maison Insurance Co. had requested 29,240 take-outs.

In a statement, Donelon noted that:

With this Depopulation Program, homeowners now have a broader range of options for insurance and many policyholders have previously lowered their premiums by hundreds or even thousands of dollars after having their policy moved out of Citizens to a private insurance company through this process.

Now, if only Texas and Florida would follow Louisiana’s lead.