Insurance ... what a scam!
Let’s change the tempo a little bit … instead of my bellyaching about how venal the government is … let me kick around the evils of insurance … and how venal the government is in what they force (or allow) the industry to do.
Down here in the “liberaland” utopia of Michigan, I have a double whammy regarding vehicle insurance. Not only does the state foster an attitude of rewarding rotten drivers with the no fault insurance scam, but they also happen to be the only government that has given us a wonderful gift to lawyers, doctors and bad drivers with something called the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). This was another scam started back in ’78 to remove any possibility of capping costs for medical care for someone involved in an accident.
While that may sound like a desirable thing, there are several problems. One, obviously, is that “no cap” thing, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of money spent to keep someone alive, or to pay for special equipment like, say, a van to get them back on the road. Again, that may sound like a desirable thing, but the latest case I saw was some scofflaw who shouldn’t have been on the road, after multiple DUIs, being involved in yet ANOTHER accident – single vehicle – while DRUNK – and is suing to get a handicap van built for him so he can get back on the road. He was drunk; he screwed up and went off the road; he injured himself; and after $1.5 million already having spent on his medical care … he’s suing to get back on the road again?
So, the double whammy, every time the insurance renewal comes in. Since this is a no fault state – I get to subsidize drivers that shouldn’t be on the road in the first place. I get to pay an EXTRA premium for “uninsured and underinsured motorists” … hmm, instead of nailing these scofflaws for BREAKING the freaking law, I get to subsidize them. And then, to top it all off, I get to pay $150 … PER FREAKING VEHICLE … for this bullshit MCCA scam to protect the insurance companies from high claims?
What brought this diatribe up is that I just bought another motorcycle and was checking on the insurance. With that added to my trio of licensed vehicles, I would be paying over $600 a year JUST for that freakin’ MCCA scam. Sure glad the government is looking out for me!
No Fault is always “sold” as being less costly for everyone. Bullshit! Absolute freaking BULLSHIT! The only valid reason for such a farce (valid in the eyes of the government, at least) is avoiding penalizing bad drivers, and keeping THEIR costs down. At the expense of good drivers. Those of us who are law-abiding play by the rules and pay our insurance bills and support the assholes who really don’t care about anyone else … and then I get to pay $150 per vehicle EXTRA because these jerks that shouldn’t be on the road at ALL have costly accidents.
I wonder if a study has ever been done to see what the accident rate per capita is like in no-fault states (or provinces) as opposed to those where bad drivers are stigmatized as they should be? Based on what I know (from relatives) in Saskatchewan – which has been no-fault for at least as long as it’s been socialist – the accident rate is much worse than Alberta. It stands to reason that as long as there’s no drive to get bad drivers off the road – through enforcement of laws, or high insurance premiums, or both – that accident rates will continue to be high.
I’d put money on such a study also finding that no-fault states are much more liberal about letting drunks back behind the wheel until they finally kill someone. Man, I am sick of opening the papers and reading another case of an accident caused by someone with 3, 4 5 or more DUIs to their credit! Why are they back on the road. Why do they even still have a vehicle? They’ve passed all sorts of laws allowing for the seizure of any property they can pretend was gained with the proceeds from illegal activities … but they can’t yank a vehicle from a known danger? Bah!
I decided not to insure the new motorcycle, by the way …. I’ll be hauling it to Texas to pass on to my stepson, instead. His insurance rates are much more reasonable … even though he lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. I’m really looking seriously at re-registering the motorhome in the west and insuring it from there as well (they have a whole industry around “screw your tax grabbers” for motorhomes there. I’m just so sick and tired of my taxes being wasted on wastrels … AND having to support their crappy driving as well!
Down here in the “liberaland” utopia of Michigan, I have a double whammy regarding vehicle insurance. Not only does the state foster an attitude of rewarding rotten drivers with the no fault insurance scam, but they also happen to be the only government that has given us a wonderful gift to lawyers, doctors and bad drivers with something called the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). This was another scam started back in ’78 to remove any possibility of capping costs for medical care for someone involved in an accident.
While that may sound like a desirable thing, there are several problems. One, obviously, is that “no cap” thing, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of money spent to keep someone alive, or to pay for special equipment like, say, a van to get them back on the road. Again, that may sound like a desirable thing, but the latest case I saw was some scofflaw who shouldn’t have been on the road, after multiple DUIs, being involved in yet ANOTHER accident – single vehicle – while DRUNK – and is suing to get a handicap van built for him so he can get back on the road. He was drunk; he screwed up and went off the road; he injured himself; and after $1.5 million already having spent on his medical care … he’s suing to get back on the road again?
So, the double whammy, every time the insurance renewal comes in. Since this is a no fault state – I get to subsidize drivers that shouldn’t be on the road in the first place. I get to pay an EXTRA premium for “uninsured and underinsured motorists” … hmm, instead of nailing these scofflaws for BREAKING the freaking law, I get to subsidize them. And then, to top it all off, I get to pay $150 … PER FREAKING VEHICLE … for this bullshit MCCA scam to protect the insurance companies from high claims?
What brought this diatribe up is that I just bought another motorcycle and was checking on the insurance. With that added to my trio of licensed vehicles, I would be paying over $600 a year JUST for that freakin’ MCCA scam. Sure glad the government is looking out for me!
No Fault is always “sold” as being less costly for everyone. Bullshit! Absolute freaking BULLSHIT! The only valid reason for such a farce (valid in the eyes of the government, at least) is avoiding penalizing bad drivers, and keeping THEIR costs down. At the expense of good drivers. Those of us who are law-abiding play by the rules and pay our insurance bills and support the assholes who really don’t care about anyone else … and then I get to pay $150 per vehicle EXTRA because these jerks that shouldn’t be on the road at ALL have costly accidents.
I wonder if a study has ever been done to see what the accident rate per capita is like in no-fault states (or provinces) as opposed to those where bad drivers are stigmatized as they should be? Based on what I know (from relatives) in Saskatchewan – which has been no-fault for at least as long as it’s been socialist – the accident rate is much worse than Alberta. It stands to reason that as long as there’s no drive to get bad drivers off the road – through enforcement of laws, or high insurance premiums, or both – that accident rates will continue to be high.
I’d put money on such a study also finding that no-fault states are much more liberal about letting drunks back behind the wheel until they finally kill someone. Man, I am sick of opening the papers and reading another case of an accident caused by someone with 3, 4 5 or more DUIs to their credit! Why are they back on the road. Why do they even still have a vehicle? They’ve passed all sorts of laws allowing for the seizure of any property they can pretend was gained with the proceeds from illegal activities … but they can’t yank a vehicle from a known danger? Bah!
I decided not to insure the new motorcycle, by the way …. I’ll be hauling it to Texas to pass on to my stepson, instead. His insurance rates are much more reasonable … even though he lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. I’m really looking seriously at re-registering the motorhome in the west and insuring it from there as well (they have a whole industry around “screw your tax grabbers” for motorhomes there. I’m just so sick and tired of my taxes being wasted on wastrels … AND having to support their crappy driving as well!
posted by pete in Midland at 14:08
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