Dear Editor,
You have probably heard the radio ads advocating no changes to the current Personal Injury Protection coverage. Note that they are sponsored by the MI Health Care/Hospital industry. Why: they do not like the proposed medical fee schedule which limits their charges for care to similar levels they now take to treat injured workers and subscribers to regular health plans.
Why do we need reform? The cost of the system is running out of control. The Unlimited Lifetime Medical Benefit has given providers a blank check to charge exorbitant prices for services to victims such as new handicap vans every 50k miles, as one example. The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) pays for all claims where the injury costs exceed $500k. It has in reserves about $13 billion, its liabilities for current claims is estimated at $66 billion. Our commissioner of insurance testified recently to the House Committee sponsoring this reform that if these financials were presented to him by an insurance company, he would declare it insolvent and shut it down.
This issue is not really an insurance issue; it is an issue of public fiscal responsibility. We the insurance rate payers / tax payers will ultimately be held responsible if this MCCA fund craters; not only hurting us financially, but jeopardizing the much needed benefits for our severely injured victims of automobile accidents. Please educate yourself on this and tell our state representative Brad Jacobsen and senators Jim Marleau and Dave Robertson we want fair common sense reforms to this system.
Jim Hazel
Ortonville