Officials talk a lot about Louisiana's insurance crisis. When they do, they often toss around terms like market dynamics, subsidy and actuarially-justified.
But behind the policy talk and bureaucratic jargon, the crisis has a gnawing human cost that could end up changing the state forever.
Those costs are vividly portrayed in a story by this newspaper's Sam Karlin, who interviewed dozens of people in Terrebonne Parish who are on the tip of the insurance crisis spear.?
What he found was a population that's weary, angry and, in some cases, despairing. The story's subjects sound the recent lament of many across south Louisiana: Louisiana's working coast can no longer support its working people.
The toll is evident in the tale of Mysti Robichaux of Chauvin, who once taught at one of the bayou community's schools. That school was destroyed by Ida, then razed by the school system.
CHAUVIN — The signs of exodus are everywhere along Little Caillou Road as it winds for miles past bait shops and sugar cane fields, following …
Now, she must drive nearly half an hour to Houma to teach. She and her husband recently saw their home insurance premium shoot up to $20,000 per year. After opting for less coverage, they managed to get it down to $14,000, but it's still a lot to bear. They've cut back on activities for their children and they are thinking about moving. Maybe next year.
Just down the road, Ida forced Robert Battise to repair the roof of the dive bar he owns himself because he didn't have insurance. To get it now would cost at least $15,000. He's survived by the "skin of his teeth" and he plans to stay, but he knows that's not sustainable for many.?
Commissioner of Insurance Tim Temple, to his credit, has not wavered in his claim that the insurance problem is the single biggest issue that Louisiana faces. A former insurance executive, Temple pushed a series of legislative changes this year that sought to bring market reforms to Louisiana's insurance industry. The moves, he hopes, will help drive down insurance costs by bringing more competition into the state.
When Temple went to Houma to talk to those bearing the brunt of the crisis, he was greeted by a gym full of residents not there to debate his approach, but ready to vent their frustrations.
The insurance crisis, as Karlin illustrates, is a complex problem without a clear solution. Environmental factors such as?rising sea levels and the increasing severity of weather events don't have easy fixes.
DULAC — The late summer sun beat down on the docks nestled in a bend in Bayou Dulac, radiating heat.
We acknowledge that this is a thorny policy issue. But it is also a human one. It affects ordinary Louisianans every single day. These people are oyster harvesters, shrimpers, processors, oil and gas workers, teachers, nurses and bar owners. Many of them have been in south Louisiana for generations.?
We urge those charged with developing fixes to think first not of the actuarial tables, rates and premiums, but to consider the human beings who are the victims in this slow moving disaster. It's for them that the solutions are desperately needed.
