Lansing, Mich. - Michigan's auto insurance industry swiftly rebuffed a 10-bill reform package unveiled by House Democrats on Monday that would turn authority for setting rates over to a state official, reported The Detroit News.
Representatives of the Michigan Insurance Coalition, which represents businesses that write $3 billion in property and casualty insurance claims annually in the state, said the proposed changes would cost consumers more, create a bonanza for trial lawyers, and drive insurance companies and their jobs to other states.
Under the bills, the state insurance commissioner would have to sign off on auto insurance rate hikes, and companies would be banned from considering a consumer's credit history, education or occupation when setting rates.
Kurt Gallinger, vice president and legal counsel with Farmington Hills-based Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co. and chairman of the Michigan Insurance Coalition, said the bills were written with no input from the industry, and are based on what he described as a false assumption that auto insurance companies are raking in profits.
If the bills are passed in the House, they would need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate and signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to become law.
The legislation mirrors recommendations released in February by the office of Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, the state automobile and home insurance consumer advocate.
Michigan drivers pay the second-highest annual average premiums in the country, even though Michigan has the safest drivers and highest seat belt use in the nation, Hollowell said.
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