Letters: Insurance companies aren't the only businesses state should worry will leave

Thanks to Stephanie Grace for the Q&A with Insurance Commissioner-elect Tim Temple.

While he's correct that insurance companies needn't operate in Louisiana, most other businesses and residents are also free to leave, a fact I'll impress upon him in January.

It's unfortunate our state's "business-friendly" culture is so consumer hostile and, by extension, small-business/nonprofit hostile. As below-average salaries and high living costs are largely responsible for our state's population losses, I plan to propose these reforms:

Return to the true purpose of insurance — equitable national/global risk diversificationEncourage creation of a National Hazard Insurance Program or National Storm Insurance ProgramEncourage FEMA to revisit its Risk Rating 2.0 National Flood Insurance ProgramBase Citizens Property Insurance Corp. premiums on a reasonable percent of income and remove the "rule of ten"Investigate and emulate what other states are doing right that Louisiana is doing wrongFoster strong, independent oversight of NFIP, NHIP/NSIP, and CPICExert prior-approval authority over health insurance ratesCrack down on unlicensed insurers

Finally, please inform your readers that many of them can bifurcate property/casualty coverage to save substantial sums on their premiums: Place hurricane/wind/hail with CPIC and other perils — fire, theft, etc. — with a private insurer. I look forward to reading about further developments.

BRUCE EVANS

Metairie