PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Auto insurance costs in Michigan are among the highest in the nation, and there's a move afoot in Lansing to change that.
But there's a groundswell against the bill as it's written.
In Detroit, insurance quotes often exceed the value of the vehicle. The crushing costs have at least half of the city's residents not buying insurance and taking their chances with getting caught.
The bill looks to undo that, but there is opposition that showed up Monday at a town hall meeting in Plymouth.
Brighton House Republican Insurance Committee Chair Lana Theis travels the state talking about the insurance bill cobbled together with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's help. Theis said it's getting heavy support.
She said she was surprised when a vocal anti-insurance bill rally showed up outside the Plymouth Public Library. The protesters believe Theis and Duggan need to go back to the drawing board.
Inside, Theis explained the bill's intricacies, how instead of mandatory payments to deal with catastrophic injury, reduced costs come from relying on drivers' health care plans.
"It gives them a choice," Theis said. "It's something they've not had before. We are mandating they purchase the highest insurance coverage in the country regardless of whether that is something they want to do, and I think Michigan citizens should be able to make that choice."
She spoke to a group dependent on those lifetime benefits, and they're not buying it.
Mary Pine's been in not one but two auto accidents causing traumatic brain injury, and she's needed constant and costly therapy.
"There are so many facets to this that if you rush into this situation and you don't give good data, it's not a good solution and you're fooling people," Pine said.
Arnie Grinblat claims to spend his time researching Michigan's insurance program.
"The bill is not going to help their constituents," Grinblat said. "It's not going to help out the state of Michigan. It's not going to lower premiums. It's just going to side with the increased profits for the insurance companies."
The expectation is that a vote will take place Thursday on the House floor. If it passes, it's off to the Senate.
Sources told Local 4 the Senate is opposed to the bill. The Senate majority leader, Arlan Meekoff, said all the bill does is shift costs and that it doesn't address the real cost problems.
It's unlikely that auto insurance rates in Michigan will drop any time soon.