Since the 1990s, reform-minded and politically conservative groups have been attempting to cut auto insurance rates and bring more accountability to the system as a whole. However, Louisiana's auto insurance premiums remain the second-highest in the nation.
According to an article in TheAdvocate.com, those who are angry about the auto insurance system in Louisiana have two targets to blame: trial lawyers and the insurance companies themselves..
Ballard says that there are reasons that insurance rates have not gone down, though, one of which is the frequency of bodily injury claims, which is 1.75 claims per 100 insured vehicles. The national average is only 0.9. These claims have led to more litigation, which has increased premiums consistently over the years.
Another reason for high insurance costs, is that auto insurance is required by law, which forces the hand of every driver in the state to pay into a system.
Pelican Institute for Public Policy commented on the topic as a whole as well as the changes that must be made to improve the state’s insurance conundrum.
“As a previous column from The Advocate's editorial board correctly noted, ‘The political and legal system should be focused on helping the families struggling with car insurance rates instead of protecting a system out of line with that in other states,’” James Baehr, general counsel for Pelican Institute, told Louisiana Record. “It's disingenuous to cite a lack of concrete evidence of lower car insurance rates as the key argument for killing several meaningful pieces of legal reform legislation, all of which would at least help bring us in line with the courtroom policies of the rest of the U.S. This wasn't the real reason for the unceremonious deaths of game-changing bills this session."