Patterson submits written testimony on proposed no-fault changes

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson submitted written testimony to the state House of Representatives Insurance Committee last Thursday opposing draconian changes to Michigan's auto no-fault insurance laws that would drive families caring for loved ones with catastrophic injuries into bankruptcy. Patterson questioned the secrecy under which the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) operates. "The MCCA suggests that the fund is unsustainable and that it may well implode within 25 years, but then stubbornly refuses to reveal the details of their actuarial assumptions, the basis of their projections, the calculations used in determining the rates they charge," Patterson said. "MCCA will not disclose any of these essential details--what we call the rate-making process--to the taxpaying public." Patterson outlined some items that the MCCA may want to conceal from public scrutiny, including: * The MCCA banks in the Cayman Islands. * Top MCCA executives' total compensation increased by a substantial amount at the height of the recession. * The MCCA estimates the life expectancy of a catastrophically injured individual could be 100 years or more after the crash. In addition, he said so-called reform will do irreparable harm to Oakland County families caring for loved ones catastrophically injured in an automobile accident. "The so-called reforms proposed and House Bill 4162 are draconian in nature," Patterson said. "They will leave the catastrophically injured without any hope of regaining a modicum of an improved quality of life. The catastrophically injured know that their ultimate outcome will be to be placed in the Medicaid system at taxpayers' expense and basically warehoused." Patterson concluded, "Under the banner of the reform we don't need to throw the baby out of the bathwater. There's so much good under the current system that it must be protected while we make surgical reforms in an effort to contain costs." Published: Mon, May 6, 2013

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