LANSING, Mich. — "We're not going to make them choose between their medicine and their car," said Senator Lana Theis, (R), Livingston County.
Under the bill, drivers who have their own health insurance will be able to choose auto insurance with different levels of health coverage including no health coverage at all.
"It was a really proud moment of mine to be able to take the first step in moving this bill over to the House of Representatives for them to consider and hopefully getting it to the governor," said Senator Tom Barrett, (R), Clinton and Eaton Counties.
It was introduced in January, but 79 pages containing the details were released Monday night.
Tuesday morning, it passed through the Senate in a 24 to 14 vote.
Two democrats from Detroit joined republicans to support the bill.
Opponents say there's no way to guarantee insurance companies will pass along savings to drivers.
"We're giving up a great deal in the state of Michigan without the insurance industry giving up anything," said John Cornack, president of the Coalition Protecting Auto No Fault.
"We need to guarantee rate savings. If we're going to guarantee insurance companies are going to make an increased profit, we should guarantee they're actually saving consumers. This bill doesn't do that," said Senator Curtis Hertel, (D), Ingham County.
The proposal would also restrict medical providers' ability to bill auto insurers higher rates for care.
"The cost of the exact same medical procedure should not cost any more just because it happens in a car accident," said Senator Aric Nesbitt, (R), Kent County.
While this is a step toward auto insurance reform, the debate is far from over.
"I'm hopeful that the house will be able to get something much better done because we aren't serious over here. If we were, we wouldn't have done it this rushed," said Senator Erika Geiss, (D), Wayne County.
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