Auto Insurance Lobby Continues to Use Disinformation and Scare Tactics to Protect Windfall Profits

BRIGHTON, Mich.—(Sept. 8, 2022)—Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council Executive Director Tom Judd today released the following statement in response to a press release from the Insurance Alliance of Michigan (IAM) that blatantly manipulates the facts regarding a recent key ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals that protects the Constitutional rights of crash survivors.   

“Once again, the Insurance Alliance of Michigan is making public statements that include disinformation and scare tactics to protect the windfall profits of its members. In a recent public statement, IAM attempts to strike fear in the public about the impact the Court of Appeals decision will have on the price of auto insurance. The fact is, however, that the Court’s decision only applies to crash survivors who paid their premiums for lifetime care prior to the change in the law—these people have their care paid for and reserved in the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association. Any association of future increases in auto insurance premiums stemming from the Court’s decision is blatant manipulation of the facts.

IAM also continues to make sweeping accusations about ‘overcharging’ in the system. However, they have never provided a single shred of evidence to support these claims. The reason is simple—auto insurance companies have always had the power to deny any charges that they deemed to be ‘unreasonable.’ Furthermore, there are other checks on potential unreasonable rates in the law with a strengthened fraud protection unit and a utilization review system that gives auto insurers more power to deny claims. Of course, these facts are never mentioned by the lobbying group looking out for the skyrocketing profits of its members.

Lastly, IAM calls the medical fee schedule ‘common sense.’ Any person with a basic understanding of business operations and common sense would tell you that an arbitrary 45% reduction in revenue is not reasonable, fair, or sustainable. Thirty-six counties, representing over 62% of Michigan’s population have passed resolutions calling on the legislature to amend the law and fix the fee schedule. Why? Because common sense tells them it is not fair or just and it is ripping care away from people that paid their premiums.

The public can see through IAM’s rhetoric and understand what its motivations truly are. Its aim is not to lower the cost of auto insurance and it is certainly not to ensure that care is secured for their members’ consumers—it is to protect the windfall profits of the auto insurance industry. Now, we just need our legislature to come to this realization as well.