(The Center Square) — Louisiana drivers are filing bodily injury auto claims at more than double the national rate, driving up insured losses and keeping car insurance premiums among the highest in the country.

But at the capitol, lawmakers remain sharply divided on whether the core problem lies with excessive litigation or the insurance industry’s own business practices.

Over the past decade, Louisiana racked up $10.26 billion in bodily injury losses — far more than neighboring states, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows Louisiana’s bodily injury claim frequency reached 2.28 per 100 insured vehicles in 2022, with an average claim cost of $15,950.21. That frequency far exceeds national and regional norms, helping explain why the state — home to just 1.4% of the U.S. population — accounted for 3.65% of the country’s bodily injury claims.

Over the last decade, Louisiana drivers filed 645,770 bodily injury claims, costing insurers more than $10.2 billion. In contrast, Alabama, with twice the population, saw about half that total in insured losses.

Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, who campaigned on lowering rates, says those numbers reflect a system overwhelmed by lawsuits and inflated claims.

“Our state is generating massive financial losses from bodily injury claims despite our relatively small population,” Temple said. “Unless we pass meaningful legal reform that addresses this issue, our state will continue to pay the highest auto insurance rates in the nation.”

While Temple and industry advocates continue to push for tort reform as a remedy, some lawmakers are raising alarms about the role of insurance companies’ profitability and transparency.

A recent report from Weiss Ratings undercuts the narrative of an industry struggling to stay afloat. According to the firm, homeowners’ insurers in Louisiana lost $1.6 billion in underwriting since 2004 — but made $88.3 billion through investment income over the same period.

“For every one dollar they lost in their business, they made $55 in gains on their investments,” said Weiss Ratings founder Martin Weiss. “And yet, when companies lobby for rate hikes or tort reform, it seems all we hear about is their red ink and virtually nothing about their big profits.”

The insurance department disputes Weiss’ findings, saying that insurers lost over $50 billion in that time frame.

In 20204 the Federal Communications Commission removed Weiss ratings as the benchmark for determining which U.S. banks qualify as “acceptable to the FCC” for issuing letters of credit, after a joint letter was written claiming Weiss was was “ill-suited to rating bank safety because its ratings were not sufficiently rigorous or transparent and its impartiality was in question.”

Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-Orleans, mentioned the report to Temple on Wednesday in the Senate Insurance committee, asking if it concerned him.

Temple acknowledged he was aware of the accusations and that it was a concern “especially in the event of solvency issues where they need to pay claims.”

Duplessis brought up the Weiss report while the committee was discussing Senate Bill 68, which would have required homeowner insurance companies to publicly disclose the profits of affiliated entities — such as claims adjustment firms — that could influence policyholder premiums.

The Department of Insurance would be tasked with publishing these disclosures online, though Temple testified in opposition to the bill.

The bill failed to pass committee.

The gap between reported losses and investment income is part of why some lawmakers say industry accountability — not just legal reform — should be on legislators minds. Among them are Duplessis and Rep. Chad Brown, D-Assumption, who have introduced and backed bills aimed at requiring insurers to disclose profit structures, tighten scrutiny of rate increases, and prevent excessive fees to affiliate companies.

An amendment by Brown to House Bill 148 would have empowered the insurance commissioner to reject rates deemed excessive based on a broader financial picture. Brown previously worked in the insurance department.

Though several of these measures stalled in committee, they’ve helped fuel a broader conversation about the insurance industry’s financial practices, including the common use of outsourcing arrangements that move money between related entities.

In just the last three years, seven Florida-based companies operating in Louisiana paid $2.1 billion in fees to affiliates, even while posting $297 million in underwriting losses, Weiss Ratings found.

“Tort reform is designed to protect insurance companies from policyholder lawsuits,” Weiss said. “What the state needs instead is truth in insurance legislation to protect policyholders from insurance company shenanigans.”

Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-St. Tammany, voiced frustration with the industry’s response to “pro-consumer” bills.

“I’m really getting tired of any time we have anything that’s a little bit pro-consumer, the industry comes to the table and says, ‘We’re just going to take our toys and go home,'” Glorioso said on Wednesday. “It’s disingenuous and I’m tired of it.”

Meanwhile, Temple has continued to argue that Louisiana’s disproportionate claim volume is the single biggest cost driver, and that reining it in must remain the top priority.

“The push is to lower claims, which premiums will follow,” Temple told legislators this week.