There are a range of different factors that have been causing the cost of coverage to skyrocket in the city.
Due to the exceptionally affordable rent in Detroit, people in the Millennial generation are flocking to the city in droves, but auto insurance in the region is the most expensive in the country and there is virtually no option for public transportation.
This is a problem that Mayor Mike Duggan has taken on, but that is leading him from one frustration to the next.
As a part of the effort to place auto insurance premiums within reach of the residents of the city, Mayo Duggan proposed a city-sponsored plan, nicknamed “D-Insurance”, that would be available exclusively to the people living in Detroit. This was proposed in his State of the City address in 2014. However, over the last few months, he has been facing one frustration to the next as the insurance strategy has stalled in the legislature.
Mayor Duggan has now expressed the frustrations he is feeling with regards to the auto insurance overhaul delays.
He is currently pointing to the health care industry as being to blame for a large segment of the excessive costs drivers would face to insure their vehicles. He said that the reason is the health care industry has been overpricing the services that are covered by the unlimited lifetime coverage for medical benefits that the no-fault insurance law in Massachusetts requires for accident victims.
“What is happening today is completely immoral,” said Duggan, who was formerly the Detroit Medical Center chief. “They know that it’s immoral. And yet they’re still fighting it.” Duggan also accused those fighting against his affordable car insurance strategy of doing so because they are receiving health care lobby campaign donations.
He also said that because of this, people living in Detroit are left with only two choices from which they have to choose. They can either find some way to pay the excessive auto insurance prices that are higher than any other place in the country, or they can drive uninsured, which is against the law and would actually make them criminals.