The threat to our model no–fault insurance system is extreme.
As mentioned in the August 22, Capitol Briefing, exploring No-Fault changes is now high on the administration’s agenda. The time has come for all of us to begin to take action.
Michigan currently requires all drivers to purchase personal injury protection insurance, which reimburses medical expenses and lost wages. State lawmakers are poised to act on Senate Bill 293, which would gut Michigan’s model no-fault law by capping driver injury and rehabilitation benefits to as low as $50,000.
Insurance companies want to get out of providing lifetime PIP coverage, which is crucial for accident victims with traumatic brain injury and other catastrophic injuries. The insurance industry says premiums will be reduced if the legislation is passed, but industry leaders have refused to guarantee savings in the legislation.
The insurance industry is prepared to invest millions in this battle, knowing they will make hundreds of millions in windfall profit by slashing coverage, passing costs on to taxpayers, and killing jobs.
What you can to do:
1) Contact your local state Senator and State Representative. Make a call. Send a letter. Corner your lawmaker at a coffee. Visit Lansing.
2) Contact your local media. Send a letter to the editor. Comment on their website. Call in to a radio show. Reach out to friends who are journalists.
3) Contact your clients. Educate them and call them to action. Explain to them that their current recovery is in jeopardy, or who is responsible for their lack of recourse.
4) Reach out to family, friends, and members of your community. We are all drivers. This assault on No-Fault will harm us all.
5) Repeat the above steps. There is no such thing as 'too much.'
Here are the facts:
Insurance industry bills SB 293 and SB 294 are a clear confirmation that the auto insurance industry aims to effectively repeal Michigan’s model no–fault insurance system to line their own pockets.
If these bills are enacted, the consequences would be dire:
• Reduced access to medical care – resulting from unfunded essential medical and rehabilitation services. Trauma centers and clinics and smaller hospitals will close.
• Forcing injured people out of their homes and into Medicaid institutions. –drastic cuts and caps for critically-needed attendant care would make it all-but impossible for family members to provide care for loved ones, forcing them into higher-cost institutions.
• Increased insurance premiums – these bills will result in the need for consumers to buy additional insurance coverage. Health care premiums would also increase due to a massive cost shift of health care coverage.
• Increased taxes – resulting from a massive cost shift from no-fault insurance to Medicaid and Medicare. Taxpayers could be on the hook for up to an extra $800 million dollars and at a time when our state is already facing a critical budget crisis.
• A loss of jobs – these bills will force the shuttering of medical facilities all over the state, and the firing of critically needed nurses and doctors and specialists. Michigan's doctors and nurses and other care providers will be forced to leave the state to make a living. People could lose the closest and best medical care when they need it the most--after a catastrophic auto accident.
• Victimizing senior citizens and disabled people who do not even drive – because the law mandates minimum coverage for those who do not drive but are involved in auto accidents. Seniors and the disabled --who might need care most of all-- will suffer the most.
The insurance industry refuses to guarantee any premiums reductions, none at all. No benefit for you. The best the insurance industry can offer is that there might be a small reduction in the 15% of your insurance premium related to these insurance bills, but they offer no guarantees of a reduction and no promise that rates won't go back up again in a few months.
Your losses are guaranteed however. You are required by law to buy auto insurance and will lose essential insurance benefits, the state will loose medical care and jobs, you will pay for these losses many times over in higher taxes and additional hidden insurance costs, and the industry will keep the money you have paid for coverage they will no longer provide.
These 'insurance welfare' bills are bad for Michigan!