LANSING, Mich., March 16, 2022 — Yesterday, State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D-Ann Arbor) introduced House Bill 5931 to roll back most of Michigan’s recent changes to auto no-fault insurance, including the 55% reimbursement cap that drastically cut payments to providers caring for auto crash survivors. Seventeen Democratic representatives co-sponsored the bill, which will be assigned to a committee today.
“The changes to Michigan auto insurance have been a cruel betrayal for people who paid their insurance bills and now find themselves abandoned without care,” Rep. Rabhi said. “People are being forced into nursing homes and hospitals; some have died. Responsible care providers are being driven out of business, and thousands of care workers have lost their jobs. This ‘reform’ was a tragic mistake from the beginning. My bill would undo it and, as much as possible, restore the system that provided the best rehabilitation and long-term care coverage in the nation. Our auto insurance system wasn’t perfect before, but what we have now is a humanitarian crisis. We must come together to stabilize care for vulnerable Michiganders now.”
Since the Public Acts 21 and 22 of 2019 were signed into law, more than 1,500 people have lost the care they were promised when they paid their insurance bills, more than 3,000 care workers have been laid off, and nearly 100 businesses that once provided care for auto crash survivors have had to close or to stop serving those clients, according to a December report by MPHI. The new system has seen Michigan drivers paying the second-highest rates in the country for much-reduced coverage. Analysts have projected double-digit rate increases this year alone, and Michigan has no mechanism to require regulatory approval of rate increases.