Tim Temple: Session Was A Win For Some Insurance Reforms, But More Is Needed. Here's Why.

My team and I spent the past year, including actively participating in 14 auto insurance committee hearings before the legislative session, working with legislators to draft a comprehensive package of regulatory and legal reform legislation aimed at reducing the cost to drivers in our insurance system — many of which ultimately passed during session.

Of the 20 insurance and legal reform bills I supported when session began, eight became law.

These new laws include a limit on the ability for a person who is mostly at fault for an accident to recover damages, the requirement for a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit to prove the accident caused the injury and clearer proof of loss requirements that can simplify the claims process.

The Legislature also passed Act 466, which says that in lawsuits involving an accusation of negligence that resulted in an injury, juries may hear and consider the amount actually paid to the medical provider as opposed to only the amount originally billed — and we all know the amount paid is rarely as high as the amount billed. In cases where health insurance is used, Act 466 limits recovery to the amount paid by a health insurer.

Act 466 is a good step toward fixing our medical billing transparency problem. However, we still must address the major issue of inflated provider billing when the patient does not use health insurance.

The emphasis on legal reform did not limit our focus on strengthening the property insurance market for home and business owners. Of the 19 regulatory and property insurance bills I supported when session began, 13 became law.

Two of these new laws work together to create a permanent source of funding from the insurance industry for the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program (LFHP), while three others create or increase existing tax incentives for fortified roofs.

Outside of solidifying the LFHP, the Legislature also passed several bills to improve policyholders' experience in our market. These changes include required training on new insurance laws for agents, adjusters and public adjusters. This will help make sure consumers receive the best guidance. The changes also include increasing the notice period for cancellations and nonrenewals to 60 days for most policies and requiring that nonrenewal notices include the cause for the nonrenewal so policyholders can address the issue and improve their insurability. Finally, it also contains stiffer penalties for insurers that do not provide rental car benefits to policyholders in a timely manner.

While the Legislature passed many good bills this year, I am disappointed by the governor's veto of Senate Bill 111 and by the Senate's rejection of 12 other reform bills I supported — 10 of which failed to pass the Senate Judiciary A Committee. These bills would have provided meaningful legal reforms, including a cap on general damages, limiting attorney contingency fees and more.

Worse, Act 11, which went through several iterations while being pushed through the legislative process by Gov. Jeff Landry, threatens the progress we've made by giving the insurance commissioner unilateral authority to disapprove rate requests and publish proprietary and/or confidential information for purely political, personal and other subjective reasons.

Act 11 makes Louisiana's insurance industry more heavily regulated than California's, harming our efforts to create a predictable regulatory environment that fosters competition, protects consumers and ensures the financial stability of insurers. This is not the right path for Louisiana.

In April, I wrote that I would explore other options if we didn't get true legal reform passed and signed into law. Because of how mixed this year's results are, I plan to explore one of those other options, specifically the Louisiana Commercial Automobile Corporation.

Based on the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation which solved the workers' comp crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, the LCAC would provide affordable insurance for businesses that have no realistic commercial auto options and demonstrate the degree to which our legal system is corrupting the market. I plan to study this option and, depending on the results, may propose future legislation to establish it.

I appreciate the sponsors of the above-mentioned bills and their serious focus on improving our insurance market this year. As we begin the hard work of implementing the reforms that have just passed, my staff and I are already looking forward to working with legislators next session to continue strengthening Louisiana's insurance markets to the benefit of the citizens of our great state.

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