Dr. Robert Hartwig, CPCU, an economist and president of the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), is urging Michigan policymakers to put the brakes on factors driving up auto insurance rates. Dr. Hartwig reports that if nothing is done to address and modify the state's current policy regarding no-fault claims, then Michigan drivers will continue to pay more than most Americans for auto insurance.

"While the cost drivers influencing the price of auto insurance in Michigan are similar to those in other states in most respects, there is one glaring exception -- its unlimited threshold for no-fault auto insurance claims," Dr. Hartwig testified, in remarks before the Michigan House Insurance committee on Dec. 3, 2009. "No other state in the country provides unlimited no-fault benefits, and for good reason: with unlimited benefits come unlimited costs."

Dr. Hartwig noted that the average no-fault auto insurance claim in Michigan rose 250 percent, to $31,883 in 2007 from $9,103 in 1998, because the "system operates with virtually no checks or balances." Unlike almost any other state, Michigan has no medical fee schedules, no utilization controls or treatment protocols, and no state insurance fraud bureau to investigate and prosecute fraud and abuse in the no-fault system.