(April 20, print)
It’s bad enough that Gov. Jeff Landry is hindering some fair-minded bills to rein in lawsuit abuse and, collaterally, help bring down insurance rates. What’s worse is his full-court press to hinder the insurance free market altogether.
For chimeric short-term advantages, the long-term result likely would be far worse, meaning higher prices and less choice for Louisiana insurance consumers.
Landry is pushing a concentration of power that is counterproductive for the economy and unwise for the political system, along with offering a tempting opportunity for corruption. Namely, Landry seeks to give the insurance commissioner unilateral authority to “set” insurance rates, as if a single official is wiser than the laws of supply and demand.
On the broader lawsuit abuse front, often known as tort reform, Landry’s close ties to plaintiffs’ lawyers surely play a role in him opposing good bills pushed by Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. While Landry claims to be for a “balanced approach” between insurance companies and plaintiffs, he vetoed a key tort reform bill last year and is reported, behind the scenes, to oppose two entirely sensible reform bills this year….
With that backdrop, Landry appears to have an unreasonable animus against insurance companies. His support for the insurance rate-setting bill, with an amendment personally drafted by the governor, seems like more of the same but by different means.
As originally drafted by Rep. Robby Carter, D-Amite, House Bill 576 already was dicey from a free-market perspective. Its main thrust was to allow the insurance commissioner, on his own, to reject insurance rate increases even in a competitive market.
Even that wasn’t good enough for the governor, though. He said at an April 16 House Insurance Committee meeting that he personally stayed up late the night before to amend the bill significantly. His amendment made things worse…. [The full column is at this link.]
