Senate Bill 248 includes new $21 million annual assessment, new MCCA-type assessment, ongoing MCCA fees and new permanent restrictions on attendant care
Auto insurance consumers will not pay less under a Senate plan to change Michigan’s No Fault Law.
They will end up paying more.
Plus, auto accident victims and their attendant care providers will be burdened with new, unprecedented and permanent restrictions on in-home attendant care (nursing care) benefits.
On March 26, 2015, Sen. Joe Hune (R- Fowlerville) introduced Senate Bill 248, which proposes to change portions of Michigan’s No Fault Law without making any guarantee of savings for auto insurance consumers.
The highlights of SB 248 are:
- No guaranteed savings for consumers.
- Auto insurance consumers will bear the cost of a new $21 million assessment to pay for a new Michigan Automobile Insurance Fraud Authority and the Auto Theft Prevention Authority.
- Auto insurance consumers will have to pay a new “annual catastrophic claims assessment” to fund a new Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA)-type organization.
- Auto insurance consumers will continue to pay ongoing MCCA assessments.
- Providers of in-home attendant care will be subject to new, unprecedented and permanent restrictions on hourly pay and payable hours.
Other notable aspects of SB 248 include:
- No cap on No Fault medical benefits.
- No fee schedule for healthcare providers who treat auto accident victims.
- Transparency for the new MCCA-type organization, which includes subjecting the incorporated association to the requirements of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requiring an annual financial statement “of the assumptions, methodology and data used to make revenue projections … [and] to determine the incorporated association’s annual assessments” and creating three voting positions on the MCCA’s Board of Directors for directors who “must represent individuals who are insured under [Michigan No Fault auto insurance] policies …” (SB 248, Pages 25-26, 28-29, 34)
Below is a chart that compares SB 248 to the No Fault plans that were introduced in the 2013-2014 legislative session.
No Fault reform plans comparison chart
From 2013-14 and 2015-16 legislative sessions
(Based on House Bill 4612 (2013), Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall)’s
& House Republicans’ plan (2014), Senate Bill 818 (2014), Senate Bill 1148 (2014)
and Senate Bill 248 (2015))
Related information:
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