Misrepresentation Health Insurance Agent Michigan

Guest column: Common sense fuels auto reform

Last Friday’s column from Dr. Steven Newman, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, critical of proposed no-fault reform legislation, left an inaccurate picture of the insurance industry-supported reforms.

Several proposals are before the state Legislature to address the escalating medical costs within the no-fault system. The Insurance Institute of Michigan, whose members write more than 75 percent of the auto insurance policies in this state, do support House Bill 4936 as introduced by Rep. Peter Lund, R-Shelby Township. Newman’s statement of an “insurance industry plan” which offers medical coverage beginning at $50,000 is not supported by our organization.

Contrary to Newman’s statement that the proposed reforms are “dangerous” and “will drive our economy into a brick wall,” the proposal actually implements common-sense reforms that have been successful in other insurance markets. Newman’s real problem with the legislation is that these reforms ask the medical community to end the unfair cost shift that currently exists at the expense of no-fault customers.

First, the legislation would implement a medical fee schedule to rein in out-of-control no-fault medical charges to no-fault carriers that in some instances are four and five times higher than charged to other types of insurance. The same fee schedule has been successfully used in Michigan’s workers’ compensation insurance system since the mid-1980s and has been acknowledged as one of the main reasons for the stability of that insurance market here.

Second, the proposal allows auto no-fault consumers to choose a level of medical benefits that meets their individual needs. Michigan’s current one-size-fits-all mandate to purchase unlimited, lifetime medical as part of a no-fault policy forces some consumers to purchase coverage they may not need.

Vermont AG settles with Maine firm over misrepresentations

MONTPELIER, Vt. (Legal Newsline) - Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell announced a settlement Tuesday with a West Paris, Maine-based compostable products company that allegedly misrepresented the availability of local composting options for its products.

Penley Corporation will pay $10,000 to the state of Vermont in costs and penalties and an additional $10,000 to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont to support its Harvest Health Coupon Program.

Beginning in June 2007, Penley marketed a "Full Circle" line of cutlery that was capable of being composted in a commercial or professional managed municipal facility. The Full Circle packaging bore prominent references to compostability, including the term "compostable!" in two places and in red type along with a boxed Biodegradable Plastics Institute/US Composting Council logo next to a third, capitalized, "COMPOSTABLE."

There are few commercial or municipal facilities in Vermont, however, that accept compostable cutlery and most state residents have not had and do not have practical access to such facilities. While Full Circle cutlery packaging did state that municipal or commercial composing facilities "may not exist in your community. Check to see if they do," this disclosure was allegedly printed in an almost unreadable five point typeface on the back of the package.

"If most Vermonters can't compost an item in the state, then advertising the item as 'compostable' is deceptive," Sorrell said.

It is estimated that retail sales of Full Circle cutlery in Vermont totaled between 7,920 and 13,776 boxes, for which local consumers paid between a total of $10,216 and $17,771.

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