Gubernatorial candidates offer array of insurance ideas

CityBusiness had a good article today, Gubernatorial candidates offer array of insurance ideas. Decent prices for insurance is important to the entire Gulf Coast so this is a good discussion for the candidates to have.

Walter Boasso and Bobby Jindal want to force more insurers to offer homeowners policies covering wind damage. Foster Campbell wants to team up with other coastal states and negotiate, as one, with insurance companies for lower rates.

John Georges said he would consider offering insurers $100 million in incentives — on top of the $100 million in taxpayer money that's already being offered to companies that agree to write policies along Louisiana's coast.

"I want to provide the carrot approach, as opposed to the stick," said Georges, an independent from New Orleans.

I think Georges is out of his mind. How does he plan to pay for that? What is the benefit of paying insurance companies who are already ripping people off?

I do like one approach though.

Campbell said he would talk with governors of other Gulf and Atlantic states and pool their insurance markets into one, multi-state market. That coalition of states would then represent a massive insurance market whose governments could negotiate with insurance companies from a position of greater strength, demanding more reasonable rates for homeowners along the coast and farther inland.

"Then you could tell them, 'If you want to do business in our states, we're not going to be robbed. You're going to have to do something for our coastal people,'" said Campbell, a Democratic member of the Public Service Commission from Bossier Parish.

This is a great approach. It benefits the people instead of the insurance companies (which Blanco and Georges seem to want to do) and spreads the goodness of it across all the gulf states. I'd like to hear more from Campbell. Actually, I would like all of the politicians in La, Miss, Fl, and Al to hear more from Campbell.

LewisC