In the race for Insurance Commissioner, Republican Tim Temple, and Democrat Rich Weaver, both of Baton Rouge, have qualified for the October 14th primary. This is Temple’s second run for the office and Weaver’s first.
Temple said competition is vital to address the ongoing insurance crisis in the state and he wants to reexamine the best way to incentivize more carriers to write policies in Louisiana.
“Not with your tax dollars, but how we change the environment. How we make the Louisiana marketplace one where insurance companies want to come and write your home, write auto, and write your business,” said Temple.
When asked how to attract more insurance carriers to the state Weaver agrees that increased competition will help address the issue.
“I think that’s a big part of getting a lot of these premiums reduced also. There’s communication, and negotiation stuff that will help as well,” said Weaver.
Temple said changes must be made to the regulatory, statutory, and legal environments in Louisiana. The purpose of the current Insure Louisiana Incentive Program, which used taxpayer dollars, was to attract new insurers to the state. He said the incentives were allocated to seven insurance companies that already write policies in Louisiana.
“It didn’t incentivize any new competition, that’s why I’m saying we need to look beyond that, we need to look at the regulations, we need to look at the legislation,” said Temple.
He said overregulation has also contributed to the state’s insurance crisis.
Longtime Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, who’s served 17 years at the helm announced earlier this year that he’s not seeking reelection.
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