Louisiana a problem child on insurance report card
The sole state to earn an F in the R Street Policy Study’s 2019 Insurance Regulation Report Card? Louisiana.
The report, released this month by the Washington, D.C.-based policy think tank R Street Institute, scores states on insurance policies and reforms by examining such lines as the auto insurance, homeowners insurance and residual markets, and such factors as underwriting freedom, among others.
Making the honor roll with an A- or above are, ranking in order from valedictorian on down: Vermont, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Utah and Wisconsin. The troubled states with D+ and below include, in descending order: Colorado, Hawaii, North Dakota, Mississippi, California, Arkansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and New York.
The biggest improvements were seen in Florida (from a B to an A-), Montana (from a D to a C-) and New Mexico (from a B- to a B+). The biggest declines were seen in Colorado (from a C to a D+), Maine (from an A- to a B) and Oregon (from a B to a C+), according to the report.
Chastising the struggling states as a teacher would shake their finger, R Street said in its report that “there are ways in which the thicket of state-by-state regulations leads to inefficiencies, as well as state policies that have the effect of discouraging capital formation, stifling competition and concentrating risk. Central among these are rate controls.”
