No-Fault PIP Benefits
Under the Michigan No-Fault Act, there are four specific categories of no-fault personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits payable in motor-vehicle accidents resulting in bodily injury or death. Your entitlement to these benefits will depend on the facts of your case and the type and extent of the losses you’ve suffered. The four types of PIP benefits are summarized below.
Allowable Expense Benefits
Section 3107(1)(a) of the Michigan No-Fault Act requires insurance companies to pay “allowable expenses,” which are defined as “all reasonable charges incurred for reasonably necessary products, services and accommodations for an injured person’s care, recovery or rehabilitation.”
These benefits are payable for life and do not have a monetary cap on the amount that may be collected. The benefits are very broad and include: medical expenses; in-home attendant care; barrier-free residential accommodations; vocational rehabilitation; special transportation and medical mileage; guardian/conservatorship expenses; and the services of an independent case manager.
Part I – Scope of the Benefits →
Part II – Causation Standard →
Work Loss Benefits
Section 3107(1)(b) provides that when an injured person cannot work as a result of an auto accident, work loss benefits are payable for up to three years for “loss of income from work an injured person would have performed … if he or she had not been injured.” These work loss benefits are payable at the rate of 85% of gross pay, including overtime.
However, the work loss benefit cannot exceed the monthly maximum, which is adjusted every October to keep pace with the cost of living. The statute also provides for the payment of wage loss benefits to those individuals who are considered to be “temporarily unemployed” from full-time employment at the time of the injury.
→ Read more about Work Loss Benefits
Replacement Service Expenses
Section 3107(1)(c) of the Michigan no-fault law provides that an injured person may receive reimbursement in an amount not to exceed $20 per day for expenses incurred in having others perform reasonably necessary services that the injured person would have performed for the benefit of themselves or their dependents. This benefit primarily consists of domestic type services, such as housekeeping, lawn work or snow removal.
→ Read more about Replacement Service Expenses
Survivor’s Loss Benefits
When a Michigan car accident results in death, dependents of the decedent are entitled to recover survivor’s loss benefits under Section 3108 of the no-fault law, as well as funeral and burial expenses under Section 3107(1)(a).
Survivor’s loss benefits are payable for three years and are subject to the same maximum monthly benefit ceiling applicable to work loss benefits. Survivor’s loss benefits essentially consist of the after-tax income earned by the decedent, the value of fringe benefits that are lost as a result of the death of the decedent, and replacement service expenses incurred because of the decedent’s death.