TRAVERSE CITY -- A town hall meeting was held tonight at the History Center of Traverse City for Michiganders to discuss the proposed changes to the auto no-fault insurance
House Bill 4936 (see link below for the actual bill) would cap auto injury benefits as low as $500,00 for accident victims. Once past the cap, residents would have to apply for the Medicaid system. The bill also mandates workers compensation fee schedules be applied to auto injury cases. Opponents to changing the bill say this will cost Michigan hospitals millions of dollars each year and decrease the quality service trauma hospitals are able to provide.
Speakers tonight included State Representative for the 104th district, Wayne Schmidt, who stated "We need to make sure that auto insurance is affordable so that all Michiganders can carry it, but also providing the best care and are able to pay for it, and that's the tough situation. The bill is out there, it's on the house floor- we're looking at it very closely. As it exists now, I am not in favor of it, I think we need to protect our Michigan residents, they've paid for it, but that's not to say I'm not willing to look at it." Schmidt stated this is not something that will change soon, and especially not until everyone has been able to see the data and financial facts regarding the impacts of changing no-fault insurance.
Other speakers included Page Graves, of Smith and Johnson Law Firm, who stressed the need for more numbers, more hard facts, before any decisions are made. He also said that there is no rush to change something that may not be broken, or as time-pressing as other current economic issues. A spokesperson from Munson Hospital stated that Munson strongly opposes the bill due to the changes they predict in patient care that would result from it's passing.
The bill is currently on the House floor right now. For more information, you can contact Michigan legislatives or CPAN (Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault).
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billintroduced/House/pdf/2011-HIB-4936.pdf
