Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Says Fewer Customers Have Citizens Insurance

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the state-run insurer of last resort has its lowest number of customers since Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana eight years ago.

Donelon says the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has 105,000 policies, representing about 3 percent of the property insurance market in the state.

That’s down from a peak of 174,000 policies in February 2008, when Citizens had nearly 10 percent of the state’s property insurance market. That’s also below the 111,000 policies in Citizens’ book of business the day before Katrina slammed into southeast Louisiana in 2005.

And Donelon expects that to drop even further.

Donelon outlined the details Monday to the Press Club of Baton Rouge, saying the decline is good news because it means more and cheaper insurance options are available to residents.