WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsCar insurance rates could skyrocket because of state budget
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As part of his budget proposal, Governor Doyle wants to increase the minimum liability rates for car insurance.
Right now the lowest amount of coverage you can get for car insurance is $25 thousand for each person injured in an accident, with a total of $50 thousand per accident. The governor wants to increase that to $100 thousand for each person injured and $300 thousand per accident.
The insurance industry says if that goes through, insurance rates could increase more than 40 percent.
"The two biggest side effects are, one, people will pay more for their insurance coverage and they'll be paying for insurance coverage they don't need. Secondly, it will drive up the number of uninsured drivers on Wisconsin roads," reacted Andy Franken, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance.
The state commissioner of insurance says the minimum rates have not gone up in over twenty years and have not kept pace with rising healthcare costs.
The insurance industry says it believes the governor tried to sneek the mandates into law. It says this issue has no business in the state budget since it has nothing to do with the state's finances.
"We were very surprised that this kind of item that in the past has been addressed through the normal bill process with public hearings and moving through the legislature, we were very surprised it showed up in the state budget," said Franken.
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