‘Open letter’ zealously defends Michigan’s No Fault system while taking on the misinformation that our insurance system must be reformed
In his recently published “Open Letter,” Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson did not pull any punches in defending Michigan’s No Fault auto insurance system while vigorously challenging the “perception” that Michigan’s No Fault system needs “reforming.” He also took on the people who are saying we need to cut no fault benefits and legal protections as a way of ”reforming” our insurance system.
For more information, click here to read a comprehensive analysis of Michigan No Fault reform and the latest developments.
As a car accident survivor himself, Patterson focused his “open letter” on four specific issues related to Michigan No Fault reform:
- Michigan’s No Fault Law is already the best in the country.
- No proof has been provided showing that Michigan No Fault reform is necessary.
- Unwarranted reform will hurt catastrophically injured car accident victims.
- Michigan’s health care system and economy will suffer from unwarranted reform.
1. Michigan’s No Fault law is already the best in the country, so “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
Immediately, Mr. Patterson questioned the “need to change Michigan’s Auto No-fault insurance system …”
Not only does Michigan No Fault provide “the country’s best coverage for auto accident victims,” but the “citizens of this great state have already voted twice to maintain” No Fault just as it is, stated Mr. Patterson.
Of course, Mr. Patterson is referring to the 1992 Initiative Petition (Proposal D) and the 1994 Referendum (Proposal C) whereby Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected legislative efforts to cut No Fault benefits for seriously injured car accident victims.
2. No proof has been provided showing that Michigan No Fault reform is necessary
Responding to statements that No Fault reform is warranted because “the current system is not sustainable” and it is vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Patterson said “these statements and associated efforts to dismantle Michigan’s auto no-fault law are inflammatory and lack factual evidence.”
He added:
“To date, no independent data has been shown to demonstrate that this effort [to dismantle Michigan’s No Fault system] represents anything more than cutting costs of the insurance industry while shifting the cost of caring for accident victims from [private paid insurance] to … State funded Medicaid.”
That is a critical point that bears repeating – if indeed No Fault has become so expensive (and there is no factual evidence being produced by the auto insurance companies or the MCCA that it is), then transferring these costs to the public as taxpayers by shifting the burden of this care to Medicaid only serves one purpose: boosting the insurance companies bottom lines. It does not lower the costs for the public. It raises them.
3. Unwarranted reform will hurt catastrophically injured car accident victims
Currently, Michigan No Fault “[p]rovides restored quality of life to accident victims” and “[p]rovides the best possible care for people injured in an auto accident,” Mr. Patterson stated.
Accordingly, he said, “any attempt to change the current law without having independent third party financial information is reckless and would … destroy the livelihood of Michigan’s catastrophically injured auto accident victims.”
4. Michigan’s health care system and economy will suffer from unwarranted reform
Mr. Patterson did not mince words when it came to explaining the dollars-and-cents effect of surrendering to the as-yet unsubstantiated “perception” concocted by the auto insurance industry and advanced by the Governor, the Insurance Commissioner and members of Michigan’s Legislature:
“[T]his is a jobs issue. The medical and health professions are the #1 jobs creators and the #1 jobs sustainers in Oakland County and throughout Michigan. We have attracted the best and the brightest medical professionals to Michigan hospitals and research centers and, according to the United States military, Michigan is leading the way in research and therapy for traumatic brain injury.”
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“Michigan’s Auto No-Fault Law … is responsible for at least 10,000 jobs in Oakland County alone that are directly or indirectly tied to caring for people with catastrophic auto injuries.”
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“[C]hanging our current auto no-fault system … will be extremely harmful to our economy … [and to] the hospital system in the State of Michigan … [It] will destroy jobs …”
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“Making changes to our current auto no-fault system without any real and validated data that substantiates the existence of a real problem is reckless and jeopardizes the balance of our entire statewide health care system.”
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For more information, click here to read a comprehensive analysis of Michigan No Fault reform and the latest developments.
Related information:
An open letter to Gov. Snyder regarding Michigan No Fault reform
getting the word out there, posted this on my facebook page