CSBJ Daily

A bill that would increase automobile insurance rates to lower unpaid trauma costs died in committee this week.

House Bill 1009 would have required insurers to provide a $10,000 medical coverage policy to Colorado motorists without health insurance.

Representatives from two insurance groups testified against the bill in the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, saying that it represented as step toward a “no-fault” insurance system, which led to increasingly higher car insurance premiums. The state changed to a tort system in 2003, and premiums dropped.

Bill sponsor Rep. Tom Massey (R-Pagosa Springs) said that while drivers benefit from lower car insurance, hospitals, doctors and ambulance companies pay the price in the form of un-reimbursed trauma care from car accident victims without health insurance.