LANSING — A broad coalition of groups from across Michigan gathered in Lansing Tuesday to announce a package of bills that could reduce auto insurance rates up to 50%.

The groups ranged from the NAACP to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, as well as both Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature.

And they were all there to plead for relief from the nation's highest auto insurance rates.

"We have a chance to do something really important," Duggan said. "We’re going to push really hard to make it affordable. It is a civil rights issue because we need people to be able to get to work. And with so many of the jobs not being near where people live, this is life and death to us."

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The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, added, "This bipartisan effort is different. It’s not often I stand in a sea of Republicans, but it shows what you can do when you have the will."

The auto insurance reform would:

Cut premium rates 20% to 50% in three tiers: a 20% cut for average drivers with comprehensive coverage; a 35% cut for a retiree with full lifetime health care; and a 50% cut for drivers with no collision or theft coverage.

Allow drivers to choose the level of personal injury coverage: $250,000, $500,000 or continue with the unlimited lifetime benefits that all Michigan drivers have to have now.

Require insurers to roll back rates an average of 20% on comprehensive policies and up to 50% on basic policies. Any future rate increases would be regulated by the state for the next five years.

Set fees at either 100% or 125% of the the rates charged for Medicare patients for medical services provided by health care providers to victims of car crashes. Right now, such schedules aren't in place for car crash victims, leading to inflated prices for services to people hurt in car accidents.

Allow senior citizens to use Medicare coverage, rather than auto insurance, to cover medical bills, leading to savings of $800 to $1,000 a year.

One question that remains is what would happen to the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association fund that pays for lifetime benefits for people who have been severely injured in a car crash if drastically fewer drivers pay into the system. All drivers currently pay a yearly assessment to the MCCA; this year the charge is $170.

If the law passes, drivers who choose other levels of coverage will still pay a nominal amount to MCCA to cover deficits and administrative costs, totaling $26.40 per year in the first year and then declining until the deficit is paid off.

Duggan said that the fund has nearly enough money to care for the people currently in the system and the new people going into the lifetime benefits system will pay far lower rates for the medical services they receive because of the new fee schedule that will be put in place.

"When we put fee schedule in, it will make MCCA more solvent," Duggan said. "The MCCA costs will go down and not up."

Losing the lifetime benefit aspect of the no-fault system has been a sticking point for years for medical professionals and accident victims, who say the lower coverage levels would be insufficient to pay for the myriad medical needs they have.

"What was proposed today cuts costs on the backs of some of Michigan's most vulnerable people," John Cornack, president of the Coalition Protecting No-Fault, said in a statement. "People who are paralyzed, people with brain injuries and children whose parents purchase these bare-minimum policies will all suffer under this proposal because they won't get the care they need."

The Michigan Hospital Association said the proposal was a non-starter.

"Upon close analysis, the Duggan-Leonard plan — like proposals that have surfaced in the past — protects insurers rather than giving all drivers true rate relief," said the association's CEO, Brian Peters. "Our first priority is making sure accident victims get the care they need 24/7 and that they can recover with the help of their families."

Perhaps one of the loudest and most consistent critics of the auto insurance reform plans has been Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who was critically injured in a car crash five years ago. Although his care has been covered by workers' compensation, he understands the high cost of care for car crash victims.

"If you choose the $250,000 coverage, or even the $500,000 coverage, such costs of a catastrophic accident will eat that insurance up within a matter of weeks. Then what’s your future?" he asked, calling the proposal "the greatest robbery since the Great Train Robbery in 1855."

The proposals, which will begin having hearings next week, will have a tough time getting through the Republican-controlled Senate.

Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said anything that mandates what a private insurance company can charge their customers is a loser in the Senate.

"It’s just not a sustainable model when government involves itself with a mandate," she said. "Sen. Meekhof would rather make reforms to the law in general and see if they generate rollbacks."

But Speaker of the House Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt, remained optimistic, especially with the diverse array of supporters who stood behind him.

"We have a very broad coalition and that’s what we need to get this done," he said, acknowledging there probably aren't enough votes in the Republican caucus to get something done without Democrats' help. "It has to be done in a bipartisan fashion."

And as much as he would have like to see some of the non-driving factors, such as credit scores and zip codes, eliminated as the basis for setting rates, Duggan said that wasn't politically feasible.

"We have to be honest about what can be passed," he said. "I would love to have a single rate for every driver in Michigan. Then the rates in cities like Detroit and Flint would go down and everyone else would go up. It’s politically not possible."

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal