Louisiana has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation, and all of us feel the pain of this reality. Right now, the state legislature has a chance to fix this mess, bring in more insurance companies, and cut costs for families and businesses. But not every idea floating around in the legislature is a good one.
House Bill 148 is one of the more controversial measures. It might sound OK on paper, but it’s got problems. It would let future Insurance Commissioners – who we elect – block or limit insurance rate changes without the usual checks and balances or any connection to actuarial realities. That means less transparency and more risk of messing up our insurance market even more than it is now.
Supporters of this measure argue HB 148 enhances consumer protection. But a closer look reveals the opposite: this proposal could inject uncertainty into the insurance market, reduce competition, and further strain a system already under pressure. Rate suppression, no matter how well-intentioned, often leads to fewer carriers willing to do business in high-risk states, shrinking consumer choice and increasing long-term costs.
The experience of California offers a clear warning. They tried something similar, letting regulators stop rate increases even when costs like wildfires or inflation made them necessary. What happened? Big companies like State Farm and Allstate stopped offering new policies. Their market fell apart, and now lots of folks can’t even get coverage. That’s not protecting people, that’s a train wreck! We don’t want Louisiana to follow the same path.
What Louisiana needs instead is a focus on the structural factors driving costs. Chief among them is our out-of-control legal environment. Years of data consistently show Louisiana’s courts have an unusually high volume of auto accident claims and inflated damage awards compared to neighboring states. In fact, our state has more bodily injury claims than the entire state of New York, despite its population being almost five times ours.
A 2025 report from the Council for a Better Louisiana found that “Louisiana has three times the number of bodily injury insurance claims and twice the amount of losses compared to the national average.” These excessive litigation costs essentially act as a “tort tax” that we all end up paying through our insurance premiums.
The good news? Over the last couple of weeks, the Louisiana House passed a package of smart reform legislation that will go a long way to solving the problem. These bills stop shady lawsuit tricks, make damage awards fairer, and shine a light on who’s funding these cases. States like Florida have recently passed similar measures. The result there: lower rates, more competition, and stronger economies. We can achieve this too if we stay focused.
This week, as all these bills head to the Senate, lawmakers have a choice: stick with real solutions or get sidetracked by political games. Louisianans hope they’ll do what’s right. This isn’t just about insurance, it’s about keeping Louisiana strong, growing our economy, and making sure our people aren’t crushed by bad policies.
HB148, as it stands now, is a distraction, not a fix. Instead of giving politicians more power to meddle, the legislature should clean up our lawsuit system and bring insurance companies back to Louisiana. That’s how we lower rates for good. I’m urging the Senate to say “no” to HB 148 and “yes” to reforms that give our families the relief they need.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
