Exhibiting “no special strengths” and weaknesses that include a “highly politicized” atmosphere, “concentrated auto insurance market” and “very low homeowners loss ratio,” Louisiana is ranked No. 45 in the nation for insurance regulation in the R Street Institute’s fifth-annual Insurance Regulation Report Card.
Louisiana was given a D grade in the report card, which ranks only Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Arkansas and North Carolina behind the Bayou State. Vermont does the best job in the country of regulating the insurance business, according to the report, followed by Utah, Maine, Illinois and Idaho.
“Based on the NAIC’s Insurance Department Resources Report, the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia spent $1.41 billion on insurance regulation in 2015, up from $1.33 billion a year earlier,” the report reads. “But it’s also important to note that state insurance departments collected more than double that amount, roughly $2.92 billion, in regulatory fees and assessments from the insurance industry.”
State insurance departments also collected $224 million in fines and penalties last year, and another $1.18 billion in miscellaneous revenues. And they separately collected $18.32 billion in insurance premium taxes, according to the report.
“Altogether, of the $22.65 billion states collected from the insurance industry last year, only 6.2 percent was spent on insurance regulation,” the report reads.
Though Louisiana’s overall D grade in the report is unchanged from last year’s report card, the state’s overall ranking improved from No. 49. The R Street Institute is a conservative think tank headquartered Washington, D.C.
