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Michigan Lawyers Weekly: No Fault Bill backers seem “disingenuous”

Many have expressed their concern with Michigan House Bill 4612, which would cap the unlimited benefits for severe crash injuries at $1 million, as well making other drastic changes to Michigan’s no-fault system.

Columnist and Editor Gary Gosselin gives his opinion on the bill in Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and calls the proposed bill “disingenuous.”

Gosselin worries that “the bill would limit a patient’s ability to dispute a claim; would cap the amount paid for home and car modifications; could further restrict access to products, services or accommodations; and would propose to limit caretaker time.”

In addition, he expresses concern that the promised $125 cut in premiums are not a true savings, nor are they guaranteed past the first year.

Gosselin brings up unanswered questions about the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) and the billions of dollars that will potentially be left over and held by the caretakers of the fund.

“Did I also mention that the MCCA is fighting Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits that are trying pry financial information from what is supposed to be a quasi-public entity funded by our insurance premiums?”

Gosselin admonishes the insurance industry for wanting to gut the current system because of ‘unsustainable funding levels’ while fighting to prevent that information from being released.

“It seems a little disingenuous for the insurance industry and their backers to want to gut our current system, citing unsustainable funding levels, when they fight tooth and nail for that information from being released,” he writes.

He suggests the insurance industry should get behind the fraud provision of House Bill 4612, which would “establish a fraud authority funded by insurance providers, and provide grant funding to agencies charged with combating fraud and establish a central repository for fraud data.”