Ideas for Reforming Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance
Government-run insurer needs changes, but wrong reforms could make things worse
New Orleans, LA -
Jan. 18, 2009
Louisiana's Commission on Streamlining Government
has recommended phasing out the Louisiana Citizens
Property Insurance Corporation. The proposal--still in
its embryonic stages--would recreate the Joint
Underwriting Association (JUA) structure that existed
before 2003. To do this, the commission has
recommended removing Citizens from state
government and creating an entity outside of
government that would take on its responsibilities.
In a memo produced jointly by the Heartland Institute
and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, Eli Lehrer, a
Heartland Institute senior fellow and director of its
Center on Risk, Regulation, and Markets, explains the
proposal and offers guidance for policymakers as they
consider various proposals for Citizens' future.
Following an introduction that explains the basic facts
about "markets of last resort" (entities like Citizens) and
what the proposal would do to Louisiana's existing
market, the paper introduces four fundamental principles
policymakers should keep in mind as they consider the
potential of overhauling Citizens.
About the Pelican Institute for Public Policy
The Pelican Institute for Public Policy is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan research institute dedicated to the
principles of individual liberty, the free market and
limited, accountable government. Through research
papers, policy briefings, commentaries and
conferences, the Institute seeks to educate and inform
Louisiana's policymakers, news media and general
public.
