Congratulations! If you live in Louisiana, you pay the highest premium for your car insurance of any state in the United States. This irritated me and I was determined to find out why our insurance was higher than everyone else’s. I don’t know why I was surprised when I learned of the reasons. Number one, it seems we have a whole bunch of litigious lawyers advertising about all the money they can get you for your car accident. And our legislature – being composed of a bunch of lawyers – enacted a 'direct action' statute that allows plaintiffs to sue an insurance company directly alongside the driver, which often leads to larger jury awards and higher settlement costs. Insurers pass these massive legal and payout expenses directly to consumers. And the suits are usually settled because it is just cheaper to give the plaintiff(s) a little money than pay the price of a trial, which can be quite expensive. So that means you can file suit whether you actually have a legitimate claim or not, and believe me, it happens every day in Louisiana. People who are at fault and usually have no insurance will file a lawsuit and settle for a couple of thousand. Bottom line, state data indicates that Louisiana records a disproportionately high volume of bodily injury claims relative to the actual frequency of accidents compared to the national average. No harm, no foul, right? The insurance company has a lot of money. The problem is, they’re not paying, you are. So for every unnecessary, frivolous claim that they settle, YOUR insurance goes up.

East Carroll Community Action Agency announces the availability of funds dedicated to assisting low-income households with payments for cooling assistance from Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC). If you received assistance through this program during the months of April through September 2026 you will not be able to apply for this assistance.