“Changes to the no-fault law proposed” (WZZM)
GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM – Peter Ross) – It was over one year ago when Megan Reynolds Hanges’ life changed. A car she was riding in spun off the road and she was thrown into a tree. It was only this past winter when she regained her speech and could move her head.
The Jenison woman is making daily progress, but her hospital and therapy bills are huge. “I’m like a million dollar baby right now,” she told WZZM 13′s Peter Ross during a break in physical therapy at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.
Hanges says she’s grateful that Michigan mandates personal injury protection in its auto insurance. That gives her, and all insured citizens, unlimited lifetime medical benefits. “Until this happened I was the one complaining about how much I was paying for car insurance,” she said.
To pay for catastrophic claims like hers, it costs each premium holder about 40 cents a day, or $145 dollars a year.
The Insurance Institute of Michigan is promoting changes it says would make car insurance more affordable and flexible. The group says insurers need relief in a system that’s growing much more expensive and threatening their finances.
Pete Kuhnmuench, the group’s president, told WZZM 13 Tuesday, “The reality is most folks have other coverage that we think we’re duplicating here in Michigan with this lifetime mandate, and we think the consumer can be more efficient with their dollars by making choices on the level of coverage they’d like under their auto policy.”
State lawmakers are expected to soon debate changes that would provide personal injury protection choices. Options would go as low as $50,000 all the way up to the current full coverage.
A pair of reports commissioned by supporters of the current system say the proposed changes would result in a $30 million shift to Michigan’s Medicaid costs and the lost of about 3,500 healthcare jobs.
The following lawmakers are on the House Insurance Committee if you would like to contact them and tell them how you feel about this issue:
Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons – 517-373-0846
Rep. Roy Schmidt – 517-373-0822
Sen. Geoff Hansen – 517-373-6339
By Peter Ross
One comment
We used to be one of the best states to live in with fair wages, benefits, good roads and a hard working legislature working for the citizens. This is just one more change that puts Michigan near the bottom of the states.
Again, it the industry and business interests that are considered first.
I lived in Texas when no fault passed in Michigan. Many Texans told me how much sense no fault made and that they wished their state worked more like Michigan. Now we race Texas, and Alabama, and Arkansas and the other southern states to the bottom. We are losing our special quality of life.