Day 19 – 9/9/05, Policyholders to Help Foot Insurance Tab

BATON ROUGE -- Homeowners from Shreveport to Slidell will be hit with a 20 percent increase in insurance premiums next year thanks to new state legislation forcing property owners statewide to reimburse insurance companies for supporting the state's catastrophe insurance fund.

After next year, the special charge to policyholders statewide will continue at 10 percent, probably for several years, state insurance officials said. The increases are in addition to rate hikes that insurers are likely to seek from state regulators as a result of new risk assessments after Hurricane Katrina.

State legislation in 2003 created the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., basically a state-sanctioned company providing homeowners insurance to people who cannot get it at reasonable prices on the open market. The corporation is especially geared toward storm-prone areas, but it also helps homeowners who can't get anyone else to write a policy for any number of reasons, such as credit problems.

Citizens Property has 135,000 policies statewide, with a total exposure of about $12 billion, Citizens Secretary Terry Lisotta said. About 60,000 of the policies are likely to result in claims as a result of Katrina, he said. The coverage does not include flood damage, which is handled by a federal insurance program. [Read more - NOLA]

Comments

[Merideth Carleton]

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[CHRISTOPHER]

I'M TRULY SORRY TO ALL OF YOU WHO LOST SO MUCH IN THIS TRAGEDY. GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU. I HOPE YOUR LIVES CAN GET BACK TO NORMAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.& TO YOU INSURANCE CO. THAT ARE BASICLY GETTING BAILED OUT BY THE FEDERAL GOVT. SHAME ON YOU FOR ADDING TO THESE PEOPLES GRIEF BY INCRESING THEIR PREMIUMS WHEN YOU WON'T EVEN PAY UP WHAT YOU OWE THESE PEOPLE.MAY GOD BLESS YOU & GIVE YOU WHAT YOU DESERVE!!!!