Attorney Charles Hausmann

Wisconsin not only has the best pro football team in the world—our beloved Green Bay Packers– it also holds another, less prestigious, distinction. The state now leads the nation in driving a pro-corporate and anti-consumer insurance agenda. The state’s “Truth in Auto Insurance” bill was repealed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and replaced by Assembly Bill 4, which will benefit insurance companies to the detriment of people who drive cars, trucks and motorcycles.  These changes will likely affect people all across the U.S. as the political influence of the insurance lobby is showing up in new state rules governing auto insurance.

Here are key changes:
The changes in Wisconsin law, scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 2011, are supposed to enable the auto insurance consumer be able to buy cheaper insurance. They do this by lowering the liability insurance limits that people must carry. But in effect, the law enables insurance companies to sell their most profitable product (the lower-limit policies) and steers consumers away from more sensible and reasonably priced policies. In essence, the government is encouraging you to purchase an inferior and inadequate product.

The mandatory minimum liability limits on automobile insurance policies were reduced from $50,000 -$100,000* to $25,000-$50.000. (*The first number indicates the limit of how much one victim could receive from the policy per accident, the second number is the maximum amount per accident that can be paid out in the case of multiple victims.)

Think about it. How easy is it for one auto accident victim to have more than $25,000 in medical bills. How easy is it for a van load of people to rack up medical bills, lost income, and other damages of more than $50,000?  Those amounts are paltry and will leave your personal assets at risk. Where does the money come from if the insurance coverage is inadequate? It comes from the personal money and resources of the individual who bought the “cheap” insurance.  If there isn’t the money, or he goes bankrupt, the injured victims are further victimized.

Our research shows that insurance policies are MORE expensive at the lower-limit level
because consumers get by far the worst bang for their buck. That is because their lower liability policies are their highest-profit product.

For instance, for a 58 year old, unmarried Milwaukee man, the cost of upgrading from the most basic $50,000-$100,000 package to a $100,000-$300,000 package from Progressive Direct Insurance goes from $63.85 a month to $66.85, exactly three dollars.

For that same man, the cost of upgrading a $100,000-$300,000 Allstate policy to a high-end $250,000-$500,000 package costs an extra $12 a month.

These price increases run true for all demographics. Whether it’s an extra two dollars a month to upgrade her Progressive policy for a 46 year old married woman, or a 21-year-old man spending an extra six bucks to bump up his policy from Progressive.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

If you are a victim in an accident and the other driver was uninsured—or underinsured—you were unlucky. Your medical bills and other losses may not be adequately covered, especially considering the fact the new law reduces required medical payments from $10,000 to $1,000. Often, there is no recourse, except to accept the devastating financial consequences. To avoid that problem, insurance companies provide coverage for both underinsured and uninsured motorists. But, under the new law, the required minimum coverage for uninsured motorist coverage was slashed from $100,000 to $25,000, and underinsured motorist coverage is no longer required. The new law only requires that insurers offer the coverage one time to the customer when the policy is delivered. The burden is on the consumer to make sure you have adequate coverage.

We urge insurance coverage purchasers to recognize that this new law is not in their best interest.  We urge you to shop with an eye to what makes sense in these times, with medical and other expenses that mount quickly in the case of a serious accident.

As of November 1, 2011, the bill also prohibits the practice of “stacking,” which enables owners of multiple cars to have their uninsured motorist coverage limits stacked one on top of the other in case of serious injuries. As an example, if you owned two cars and the uninsured motorist coverage was $50,000 per car, you would be entitled to $100,000 of coverage because you would add the maximum uninsured limits from all your uninsured motorist policies. It makes pure economic sense that you paid for two policies for two cars, and therefore should receive the benefit of two uninsured policy maximums.

Under current Wisconsin law, if a two-car family purchases uninsured motorist coverage on each car in the amount of $50,000, the amount of uninsured coverage is actually $100,000 because the family insures two vehicles.  Under the new law that takes effect November 1, 2011, regardless of how many cars you insure and how many premiums you paid for, you would only receive the benefits of one policy. To sum up, under the new statute, you lose and the Wisconsin insurance companies win. You pay for multiple policies, but only get the benefit of single coverage regardless of how many vehicles you insured and how many premiums you paid.

Hausmann-McNally S.C. disagrees strongly with this new legislation. Charles Hausmann, the firm’s president, said stacking ensures accident victims get enough money to pay off their medical bills, hospital costs, recoup lost wages as well as pain and suffering compensation. This new law is a terrible public policy that only protects the economic interest of the insurance industry and throws the consumer under the bus.

“This new bill dramatically reduces the coverage provided by auto policies and encourages people to buy the least cost-effective products they sell,” Hausmann argues. “Wisconsin’s elected officials should be protecting the interests of its citizen-drivers, not the insurance companies.”

It is not too late! If you want to contact your legislator to protest the changes in Wisconsin’s auto insurance laws, do it now. Although the new law is passed, Wisconsin’s lawmakers are at a crossroads on how to serve the citizens of the state. Many are themselves unaware of the consequences of these changes and how it will affect their constituents.

If you live in the other states where Hausmann-McNally practices personal injury law (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin), you need to be concerned. Review your own insurance policy and make sure you have adequate liability, uninsured and underinsured coverage. Make sure your own wealth and assets are not at risk because of what you believed were reasonable policy limits. And join movements that make state legislatures own up to the realities of the market and stop pandering to insurance companies. Consumers are in need of protection, not the insurance companies.

To see what a finance expert recommends for auto insurance coverage, go to:
http://usonlinebiz.com/article/Does-Low-Cost-Auto-Insurance-Equal-Low-Liability-limits-.php

Neither the above-mentioned website or Hausmann-McNally has any interest in further enriching insurance companies, but we felt that our associates have a right to the facts.

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