Oakland County Resolution calls for Transparency in Michigan Auto-No Fault System
LANSING, MI – The Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault (CPAN) and its member organizations welcomed the support today of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners it the effort to increase transparency of Michigan’s auto no-fault system. The Oakland County Commission passed with a 19-0 vote at its board meeting today a resolution calling for greater transparency at the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA).
The resolution calls for legislation that would subject the MCCA to the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act and make public the method it uses to determine the annual assessment charged to every insured vehicle in the state, currently set at $186. It also urges the MCCA to provide information to support its claims of future insolvency, which are being used by the insurance industry as justification for House Bill 4612, which would cut injury care for catastrophic auto accident victims.
“CPAN would like to thank the Oakland County Commissioners for standing up on behalf of the accident survivors and health care providers in their community by calling for transparency at the MCCA,” said CPAN President John Cornack. “The MCCA is being used to justify draconian changes to Michigan’s auto no-fault system – changes that will adversely impact both accident victims and health care providers alike. The problem is that the MCCA is conveniently controlled by the same insurance industry executives who are pushing for those reforms.”
Cornack added that CPAN has an ongoing lawsuit against the MCCA that would open up the Catastrophic Claims Association to the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit is currently awaiting a hearing date at the Michigan Court of Appeals.
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About House Bill 4612
Caps auto injury benefits at $1 million
Imposes a Workers Compensation-style fee schedule on health care providers who treat auto accident victims
If the fee schedules included in HB 4612 are implemented, the cost to the average Michigan hospital system would be $10 million per year in lost revenue.
Other impacts of the legislation include:
Limited attendant care provided by families and agencies;
Denial of services that don’t result in “meaningful and lasting improvement in the injured person’s functional status;
Reduced benefits for motorcycle claims;
Restrictions on injury rehabilitation benefits;
Restrictions on home modification benefits.
In return for the caps on care and limited reimbursement for healthcare providers, the legislation includes a one-year cost reduction of approximately $10 per month. HB 4612 does not include any language to prevent auto insurers from increasing costs the following year.
About the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault
The Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault is a broad-based coalition of consumer advocate groups, lawyers, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers working together to keep Michigan’s model no-fault insurance law intact. Learn more about CPAN by visiting ProtectNoFault.org.
