Over 17,000 Policies Written Through Insure Louisiana Incentive Program

Insurance companies have written more than 17,000 policies through the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program as of May 31, Commission Jim Donelon announced last week.

SafePoint Insurance and its affiliate Cajun Underwriters (CURE) have been approved to take another 20,000 policies out of Louisiana Citizens, the insurer of last resort, during the upcoming round of depopulation.

The Insure Louisiana Incentive Program provides insurers with matching grants to incentivize writing residential and commercial policies in vulnerable areas, particularly in the southern part of the state. The program was enacted during the 2022 legislative session as a way to convince more insurers to write policies in the state and reduce volume of business written by Citizens.

“These results show the program is working as intended to provide immediate relief to thousands of homeowners who would otherwise be without an affordable policy. Unfortunately, many more of our friends and neighbors still need help,” said Donelon. “The Incentive Program companies will continue writing in the coming months, and I expect their success will encourage other insurers to resume writing in our market.”

The 17,197 policies written to date amount to $53 million in premium, according to a report released by the Louisiana Department of Insurance. Jefferson Parish, which includes Metairie, accounts for 577 policies written to date, the most of any parish. East Baton Rouge has the second-most (521), followed by Lafayette (509) and Saint Tammany (469).

Donelon is urging Citizens policyholders to contact their agents now and request to be notified if they have an opportunity to be picked up by SafePoint or CURE,”

“Getting policyholders out of Citizens is vital to our state’s economic recovery, and I’ve been troubled by the high number of depopulation requests that have gone unfulfilled in recent months.”

At least eight insurance companies have been approved to receive grant funds to participate in the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program. To qualify, an insurer must meet certain criteria including capital and surplus in an amount not less than $10,000,000; minimum financial strength rating of: AM Best “B+” or Demotech “A”; and minimum risk-based capital ratio of 400%.