No fault insurance changes on fast track in Michigan. Calling Your State Representative Michael McCready is your only vote. 517-373-8670.

 I  got a robo call  yesterday afternoon and again this morning from someone  who said they were calling on behalf of  the Collation for Auto insurance  reform.The caller said our  representative in the Michigan legislature,  Michael  McCready,  has  opportunity  to reform  our no fault  laws and reduce our insurance costs  by as much of  $100  per vehicle  while still protecting all your benefits but "Representative McCready needs to hear  from you" by calling 517-373-5670. 

I don't know why I listened to the call. I normally don't  
with  prerecorded messages. This time I did and wound up appreciating the call. Otherwise the issue might have completely passed me by. 

There will be no vote by the people you see. It won't appear on  a ballot for you to decide. By some parliamentary slight of hand the state legislature will simply decide for you. That is why the bill is moving so fast  through the state senate, the house committees and on to the state legislature for for a final vote possibly next week or sooner.

 Above are  recent  news film clips on the subject. One local and one from Grand Rapids. The views of the economics professor from Grand Rapids in regards  to  a tiered system of No fault insurance  are interesting but will never be considered if the legislature simply decides for us.

  I am not in favor changing our no fault insurance which in my mind is the number five reason for living in Michigan. Driving was a large part of my career and Michigan's  unique no fault auto insurance meant that regardless of what happened on the road,  I  would never be a financial burden on my family.

Others in the community  who's opinion  I respect,  have put more  exactly and vehemently.

Mitch Album wrote  in the Detroit Free Press April 27th 2015

 Plenty of red flags

You always should be wary when lawmakers move fast. This same body that couldn't get its act together to fix our roads — so it told US to go vote on them — has somehow greased a bill that spent one day in a Senate committee, three days in a House committee and could be voted on the floor this week — what? huh? — a bill that would cap, cut, alter and reassign the benefits that catastrophic victims rely on.

Oh. And they're inserting a provision to make sure we, the people, can never vote on it — even though we were the ones who created this thing and upheld it twice in statewide votes.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who has spent his life in politics, explained it this way to me: "The fund was created to protect the most vulnerable people in society. ... Today it has about $20 billion, but the legislators can't get to it. ... The insurance companies can't get to it, and it's driving them crazy. And they're doing anything they can to tear down that gate."

This bill would do that, phasing out the entity that controls the fund and opening loopholes through which the insurance companies could refund themselves.

How do they and their government lackeys get the audacity to try this? By "covering" it with talk of costly auto insurance rates. Michigan's are among the highest in the U.S. (That's greatly skewed by Detroit's rates.) And this bill would lower rates by $100 a car — BUT ONLY FOR TWO YEARS!

Will we sell our souls that cheaply?

Who's kidding who? Whenever insurance companies want something, they threaten high rates or claim they can lower them. I ask you: When, long-term, does that ever happen? Even more to the point: When's the last time you saw an insurance company suffering?

On the other hand, you can see car crash victims suffering every day in our state.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, a Republican who was in a severe crash in 2012 and usually uses a wheelchair as a result of his injuries, also spoke out against the GOP-backed legislation, calling it "totally irresponsible."

"Senate Bill 248 drastically cuts reimbursements that directly impact health care for the survivors of catastrophic accidents in exchange for a two-year $100 per-vehicle premium reduction," said Patterson. "There are no guarantees – the insurance industry is asking us to 'trust them'.

"It is a fool's bargain – and Michigan motorists are not fools."

Randy Janczyk, medical director of Beaumont's Level I Trauma Center in Royal Oak, said the reimbursement cuts would hospital system about $55 million a year.

"If this legislation is adopted, Michigan will join the many states where hospitals are dropping out of trauma care because of the costs associated with it," he said in a statement after the rally.

"... Patients injured in auto crashes aren't the only ones who will suffer as a result of this legislation. Medical care for the entire community will be diminished as hospitals close or cut services, or reduce jobs, to offset the impact of these reimbursement cuts."