GOP Plan to Reduce Wisc. Car Insurance Succeeds Despite OppositionA Republican-led bill to lower the mandatory car insurance coverage minimums that
Wisconsin motorists have to purchase was met with staunch opposition in a hearing of the Assembly Insurance Committee on Wednesday, January 25th, 2011. Despite the resistance, the Republican-controlled Assembly passed the bill the next day.
The bill is designed to roll back mandatory coverage minimums for liability and uninsured motorists that were included in the 2009-2011 state budget. Critics fear that the bill will ultimately lead to many injured motorists having to fend for themselves.
On the other hand, Republican proponents argue that the increased minimums have forced insurers to raise premiums, thus prompting many citizens to illegally forego
auto insurance altogether.
Many organizations, including
Citizen Action of Wisconsin publicly blasted the bill. The organizations program director Robert Kraig and Democratic Representative David Cullen have both argued adamantly that there is no proof that the higher provisions have led to insurers raising premiums.
Cullen even went on to ask Republican Representative John Nygren, one of the authors of the new bill, for statistical proof. Though he tiptoed around the issue Nygren did say he believes citizens deserve the right to choose how much coverage they can afford.
A repeal of the higher provisions will have coverage minimums in key categories dropping dramatically. Mimimum coverage for killing someone in a car accident will drop from $50,000 to $25,000 and killing two people will drop from $100,000 to $50,000.
Another provision that will be removed is a practice called “stacking.” Stacking allows someone who is paying for car insurance on multiple vehicles to apply coverage from all their vehicles to help pay for damages.
Representatives from the Wisconsin Mutual Insurance Company claim that they absorbed losses of around $1 million due to stacking just last year.
Before the 2009-2011 budget car insurance was not mandatory in the State of Wisconsin.