Michigan Edges Toward Showdown Over Auto Insurance Rates

By | May 13, 2019

  • May 13, 2019 at 1:28 pm
    Underwriter says:
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    It’s about time! No other State has unlimited PIP coverage, no wonder their premiums are so high.

  • May 13, 2019 at 6:25 pm
    Mark Ambrose says:
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    When you’re auto insurance rates are the highest in the nation, you need to make some changes. When you’re the highest in the nation and the average is half what you are, you need to take a machete to your insurance laws and start over.

    • May 15, 2019 at 4:10 pm
      Regular Reader says:
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      Unfortunately as long as Detroit is a part of Michigan, insurance reform will never happen. Most of the fraud cases come directly out of Wayne County. Then add the hospital lobbies into the mix and it’s a hot mess. Auto insurers in Michigan are charged 3 times more than a health insurer for the same procedure. It seems that the hospitals overcharge auto insurers to make up for the money they feel they are losing with their Medicade patients. We have a $220 fee added to our insurance bill to pay for the Unlimited Medical Expense per vehicle. Yet our governor doesn’t see eliminating that fee as a savings to insureds. She’s definitely part of the problem, not the solution.

  • May 17, 2019 at 11:08 am
    Question to all says:
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    Which insurance professional can answer:

    Scenario – personal auto policy in a no fault state, PIP limit $5,000 – also has a HSA health plan through their employer.

    The individual is involved in a MV accident causing an injury – the PIP limit is insufficient to pay for the medical costs… Can the insured use the $$ from the PIP coverage to satisfy their HSA deductible?

  • May 18, 2019 at 12:33 pm
    one way/phase one thru? says:
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    The way to pass this or similar bill is in phases. Forget initially dropping, the whole ‘no fault’ requirement and make the reimbursement to any providers similar to wcomp which I believe was part of this bill? That will start to trim some of the overpayments. “Regular’ above, is correct, in that the excess profits a provider makes off auto accidents does help cover the losses from social programs like Medicare, Caid and others. Generally, private health plans do subsidize social plans across the country — it’s all part of the mix. per se.

    If you go to the wcomp plan do it in a 5 year phase to wean the providers off the gravy train and give them time to adjust their budgets and work force. This will also start the process to reduce or eliminate the MCCA ‘TAX’ that is used by so few but pd by all.

    The other adjustment would be to allow a partial PIP (non) no fault claim, up to say 25k if the other party is substantially at fault — this would put at least some of the burden on the other party and keep the rates down for good drivers. (this would be similar to the $1,000 mini tort claim for uninsured collisions).

    As with the MCCA and the whole no fault lifetime put a phaseout plan 5-10 yrs — once the Wcomp effect has been realized the transition will be easier for the providers.

    SE MI is a mess and that has to be controlled somehow.

    If you mandate set premium decreases you will just have more providers leave the state. Several of the nonstandards have pulled out in the last ten years as it is.



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