Louisiana insurance guide

Louisiana is the most difficult property insurance market in the country, and the difficulty is recent enough that many residents remember when it was not.

The 2020–2021 storm seasons produced insolvencies among carriers writing here. Louisiana Citizens — the residual market insurer — grew substantially as a result. Named-storm deductibles, roof age restrictions and separate flood placement are now standard parts of a Louisiana property conversation rather than exceptional ones.

Alongside that sits a striking asymmetry: Louisiana carries one of the lowest bodily injury liability requirements in the country and some of the highest property premiums. The two facts pull in opposite directions, and both matter to how you should think about coverage here.

The property market

Three features define it.

Named-storm deductibles. Separate from the all-other-perils deductible, generally expressed as a percentage of the dwelling limit, and applying to the loss most likely to be catastrophic. This is the single most important number on a Louisiana homeowners policy and it is the one least often converted into actual money at the point of sale.

Roof age restrictions. Carriers manage their exposure by declining older roofs or writing them on terms that settle at actual cash value rather than replacement cost. On a roof near the end of its life, an actual cash value settlement combined with a percentage named-storm deductible can produce a covered claim that pays very little. Neither provision is hidden; both are routinely unread.

Louisiana Citizens. The residual market property insurer, with rates set above the voluntary market by statute. That statutory design is deliberate — it is meant to be the market of last resort rather than a competitive option — and it means that if a voluntary market carrier will write your property, comparing is almost always worth the effort.

Wind and water are two different claims

This is the distinction that decided an enormous number of Louisiana claims after major storms, and it is worth understanding before you need it.

If wind opens a building and rain enters through the opening, the cause of loss is generally the wind — a homeowners claim. If water rises from ground level and enters the house, that is flood, and the homeowners policy does not respond at all.

Same storm. Same house. Same ruined floor. Different policies, different deductibles, different outcomes.

That is why adjusters ask questions that seem pedantic after a hurricane, and it is why carrying both coverages matters here more than almost anywhere else. A household with excellent wind coverage and no flood policy is, after a Gulf storm, potentially uninsured for the damage it actually suffered.

Flood

Excluded from every standard homeowners and renters policy. The III states it without qualification: “Floods are not covered under homeowners and renters policies. Only a specific flood insurance policy will cover home flood related losses.”

Source: Insurance Information Institute — Facts about flood insurance · accessed 2026-08-04

In Louisiana, flood is not an edge case. It is a primary exposure for a large share of the state, including areas that are not in mapped high-risk zones and areas that have never flooded before.

There is generally a waiting period before a new flood policy takes effect, which means it cannot be bought when a storm has a name. That timing constraint is the entire argument for handling it outside hurricane season.

The auto side

Louisiana’s statutory bodily injury liability requirement is among the lowest in the country. Confirm the current figure with the Louisiana Department of Insurance rather than any general guide — but the structural consequence does not change with the number.

A low statutory floor means a high proportion of drivers around you carry very little liability coverage. If one of them causes a serious injury to you or your family, their limit is what is available to pay for it, and it may be a small fraction of what the injury costs.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is what responds to that gap. It is the part of your own policy that protects your household from other people’s choices, and in a state with a low liability floor it is unusually consequential.

The Client First standard on this is to offer UM/UIM at limits matching your liability, and to document in writing any reduction or rejection. In Louisiana that is not a formality — the mismatch between what drivers carry and what injuries cost is wider here than in most states.

What to ask an agent in Louisiana

What is my named-storm deductible in actual money, and how is it calculated?

How does this policy settle a roof claim, and does it change with the age of my roof?

Am I with a voluntary market carrier or with Citizens, and if Citizens, what would it take to move?

What would flood cost here, whatever the zone map says?

What are my UM and UIM limits, and do they match my liability limits?

Is my dwelling insured to rebuild cost, including debris removal and current building code?