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Recent data highlighted just how much residents of the state of Michigan typically pay for their auto insurance coverage, and in the wake of those findings, lawmakers there have taken a hard look at the ways in which they can save their constituents money. The latest of these efforts includes a new push by Democrats to boost consumer protections as much as possible, and insurance agents will need to keep a close eye on the proceedings.

State representatives from the Democratic side of the aisle recently announced that they were going to put forward a raft of 14 bills, all of which were aimed to make auto insurance policies more affordable for Michiganders overall, according to a report from Booth Newspapers. Among these bills are ways to increase consumer protections from significant cost increases overall, make sure there's more oversight for how insurers set rates in the first place, and bring more accountability to the state's Catastrophic Claims Association. The affordability of such coverage may be a particularly important issue because of how hard the state has been hit by the economic downturn over the last several years.

""The residents of our city pay some of the highest rates in the nation, forcing some people to illegally forgo insurance given our tough economic times,"" said Rep. Thomas Stallworth III, a Democrat representing Detroit, told the newspaper group. ""We believe these bills will go a long way in making insurance more affordable for Michigan families.""

A potential counterpoint
Meanwhile, Republicans are likewise trying to address this issue, but in a different way, the report said. In general, their plan seems to be placing more of an onus on drivers to operate their vehicles safely, by placing limits on the coverage provided by auto insurance companies when accidents lead to catastrophic injuries. {That's pretty fucked up} However, the Democrats say that this might have a major financial impact on many economically disadvantaged state residents overall. 

If either of the sides in this issue are able to push their bills through to law, then it's very likely that they're going to have to change the ways in which insurance agents operating in the state have to operate. As such, doing as much as possible to prepare for such alterations to regulatory controls over the industry, such as alerting consumers to potentially massive changes to their policies, might become extremely important for many agents.

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