STATE SENATOR Lana Theis was the keynote speaker for this year’s Lincoln Day Dinner, the annual dinner party of the Shiawassee County Republican Party. Theis represents Michigan’s 22nd District and serves as assistant pro tempore of the Michigan Senate. During her keynote address, Theis, the chair of the Senate Insurance and Banking Committee, spoke to the group of Republicans about the state’s failing auto insurance industry, which has produced the highest auto insurance rates in the country.
“I hear all the time, that we have the best auto insurance in the country, bar none,” shared Theis. “I was speaking with a colleague of mine about that recently, and I said to her, ‘Let’s challenge that. Let’s take a trip to the Michigan-Ohio border. On the way down, we can drive on the Ohio side of the border and look for Ohio residents who signed up for Michigan auto insurance to take advantage of our amazing rates. On the way back we can drive along the Michigan side to look for Michiganders who have purchased Ohio auto insurance policies.’ When I said that, her face fell, because she knew she was wrong.”
Theis went on to highlight mandatory unlimited, lifetime health insurance that is required in all Michigan auto insurance policies, rampant fraud throughout the state’s auto insurance system and the abuse of liberal benefits policies. She also shared that reforming Michigan’s auto insurance policies “is the thing that can change Michigan more than anything else.”
“In my opinion, you don’t mandate something that people are going to buy on their own,” explained Theis. “With healthcare we have a choice, but Michigan is the only state that mandates unlimited health insurance in its auto policies. That is why the state’s auto insurance industry is losing money. Every other state has more functional, less expensive systems than we do, and that needs to change.”
(Independent Photo/Graham Sturgeon)