Maggie's Farm

Mr. Kessler: Medicare and Medicaid already exclude auto injuries from coverage. The shift will come when government rationers discover they, too, can exclude auto injuries from coverage in private plans, shifting costs to auto insurance companies and back on insureds. For us here in Michigan, the only state with lifetime coverage under our car insurance for auto injuries with no caps and a verbal threshhold for suing the at-fault driver, it will only remove our ability to pass some of our premiums to health insurers under coordination of benefits. Just a little inconvenience. Most other states have a dollar cap on auto injuries that is often times less than $25,000 (in some cases, less than $5,000). After that, they may sue the at-fault driver (assuming that's not them), hope the other driver has more than minimum limits, and pay their lawyers out of the proceeds. They're the ones who are going to suffer bigtime. (For our benefits, Michigan is still 14th in cost).

Believe me, sir, I wasn't defending the guy, or the program. Just saying that while yes, those costs will shift, the "approved" health care plans, the only ones the government will let us buy, will exclude auto injuries. Fine for us here in Michigan, but will be bad elsewhere due to limits on damages paid. Here in Michigan, those costs from auto injuries have been shifted since 1971, because the system allows doctors and hospitals to charge up to 150% of usual and customary charges as a matter of "public policy". So hospitals and doctors already use our auto insurance to make up other costs. It keeps our car insurance pretty high. So you're right - that blight will spread to the rest of the country pretty fast.....