The Senate released its long awaited no-fault reform proposal today and by the afternoon the full Senate voted 24 to 14 to pass the legislation. Two Democrats, Senators Sylvia Santana and Adam Hollier, joined with the Senate Republicans to pass the proposal.
This comes after months of committee testimony on no-fault in the Senate Insurance and Banking Committee. As you know, MAIA testified before the committee in February on PIP choice and how that would impact consumers.
MAIA was in attendance at the Senate Insurance and Banking Committee this morning as a 79-page substitute was publicly released. The committee voted on a 7 to 3 party-line vote to advance the bill to the full Senate, which later in the day voted to send the legislation to the House of Representatives.
- Allow an insured person to select their level of personal injury protection, or PIP, coverage level. Options include $250,000 PIP coverage and as low as $50,000 coverage option plus $200,000 in the hospital immediately after any injury.
- Allow those with “qualified health coverage” - such as Medicare, Medicaid, or other health or accident coverage that did not exclude or limit coverage for motor vehicle injuries - to opt out of purchasing PIP coverage.
- Create a fee schedule tied to the worker’s compensation reimbursement levels.
- Create cost controls for attendant care. For family members, it would be capped at 56 hours a week.
- Require a statutory form created by the department that requires the insureds signature acknowledging coverage level. This is a consumer protection issue since the current no-fault system has been in place for over 40 years and has been advocated for by MAIA.
- Creates an auto insurance fraud task force within the Michigan State Police to go after insurers, health providers, drivers or anyone who is defrauding the system for personal benefit.
Stay tuned to NewsNow as MAIA continues to monitor and advocate on behalf of the independent agent during the on-going no-fault discussions.
