The New Jersey Senate has lifted a law package aimed at promoting insurance coverage for victims of car accidents – but warned critics that they will raise higher wages, low-income drivers may lose insurance completely and drive unprotected.
Many of those who gave evidence within about three hours warned that excessive insurance coverage would harm people who are already worried about rising prices, rising gas prices, and other economic downturns from the epidemic.
The bill sparked an interesting debate that would raise the minimum number of injury prevention drivers who should continue with standard insurance policies up to $ 250,000. That’s 16 times higher than the $ 15,000 minimum required now.
Gary LaSpisa, vice president of the New Jersey Insurance Council, said the change would affect 46% of all New Jersey drivers, who now choose to have less closure.
Another bill will prevent drivers from relying on their health insurance to prevent their injuries. That could affect 1.27 million drivers, LaSpisa said.
Taken together, the two bills will result in “extreme” increased tariffs and force drivers to get more insurance than they need or can afford, he said.
Chuck Bell of Consumer Reports estimates that the two bills could increase prices by 90%.
“People will not be able to cope with such a huge increase, and as a result, more people will be driving without a hitch,” Bell said. “Most of them are national drivers, who are stopped by the police. This is going the wrong way, especially with inflation. ”
Rory Whelan, deputy vice president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, reminded lawmakers that New Jersey currently has fewer unprotected drivers in the country. He warned that bills would “reverse” the country’s progress in ensuring that car insurance remains affordable for all drivers.
“Why do you want to increase premiums on average New Jersey drivers when inflation is so high, when getting a car to buy is expensive? Car repair is expensive. Sales issues are increasing costs,” said Whelan. “This is the wrong time to increase premiums for New Jersey drivers.”
Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union), a member of the judiciary, said that victims of trauma often receive insufficient compensation for injuries or damage to property. Bramnick is a personal injury lawyer.
“During this practice, we did not pay much attention to the injured party and to the consequences of lower costs,” Bramnick said. “I understand the cost of insurance. I understand the price. But then again we are talking about two issues – one, the victim and what the victim is entitled to, and the rates. And as long as we compare the two, we can make a dialogue. But if he is caught no longer part of the conversation, we are not making a conversation. “
Senate President Nicholas Scutari, who backed eight of the nine bills, said New Jersey’s closing limits were the lowest in the country – and had not risen in 50 years.
“We’ve been slow to fix it,” Scutari said in a statement. “We need strong consumer protection so that lawmakers do not lose their rights and compensation.”
Lawyers have told the Senate that low-income drivers and those from color communities are now paying more than they should for car insurance.
Instead of setting car insurance prices on driver’s history and safety record, most insurers use education, employment, and consumer credit scores to check prices. This means that they often charge higher premiums to those who can afford them: poor and non-white drivers.
Several lawmakers have introduced bills in the last two pieces of legislation to address this issue, but have not passed. It was brought back to the Assembly in January but remains standing there.
Maura Collinsgru, director of policy and advocacy at New Jersey Citizen Action, urged committee members to abide by the bill.
A majority of the five members of the committee voted to pass the nine bills. Sen. Robert Singer (R-Ocean) opposed the whole measure, talking about affordability.
Regarding the progress of law enforcement agencies that would raise the cost of confiscating commercial vehicles to $ 1.5 million, Singer said: “This is devastating for small business owners. I guess we don’t care about small businesses. “
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