The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that car accident victims who sustained devastating injuries cannot receive lifetime medical reimbursement.
The ruling reversed a 2019 change to Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance law that cut the amount an insurer has to pay.
This is a ruling that could affect thousands of Michigan residents who need round-the-clock healthcare and whose benefits have been severely curtailed following the 2019 reforms.
In the split decision, two of the three judges ruled that retroactively changing the terms of a patient’s coverage violated the Michigan Constitution’s contract clauses. With the amendments, insurance companies will only have to pay about half of the cost of a patient’s treatment.
Because the victims of the insured accident had previously paid for lifetime medical costs under the policy, it would be unconstitutional to receive full reimbursement from them later, Court of Appeals Judge Douglas Shapiro wrote in the majority. He was joined by Justice Sima Patel.
Shapiro also writes that insurers have not proven that reducing the amount they have to pay will result in lower premiums for other drivers.
“If the amendments were applied retroactively, the lifetime unlimited benefits paid by insurers would be significantly undermined,” Shapiro wrote. It does not indicate that retrospective application of the amendments is necessary to achieve this goal.”
Nearly 7,000 car crash victims who need full-time care have finished treatment, an injured advocate says, since Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance law changed in 2019. I’m here.
Related: Nearly 7,000 crash patients have lost care since no-fault motor vehicle reform was implemented
In a sign that could threaten the fate of the reform as a whole, the court remanded the two cases in question to a lower court to determine whether the no-fault amendment “passes the constitutional convocation.”
Appeal Judge Jane Markey disagreed. She wrote that it is possible for Congress to retroactively void contracts, or policies, that accident victims had with insurance companies. social need of the community. ”
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Proponents continue to call for changes to Michigan’s no-fault motor vehicle law. Not held this term.
