Can Insurance Costs Increase by 492%? - Copy

The federally required insurance minimum for motor carriers may be going up – way up – to the tune of a 492 percent increase from the current amount.

The Safe Haul Act is making its way through Congress, and the legislation would call for the raise of the minimum insurance for motor carriers from $750,000 to $4,442,000. The bill would also tie future insurance minimum requirements to the cost of medical care inflation.

The existing motor carrier insurance minimum has been in place since Congress set the amount in 1980.

Today, adjusting for increased costs of medical care, it requires more than $4.4 million to match the equivalent amount from the original law, according to a statement by Matt Cartwright, United States Representative for Pennsylvania.

Cartwright was the one who introduced the bill in the House as “Safe and Fair Environment on Highways Achieved through Underwriting Levels Act” (H.R. 2730) in July. The bill now has eight co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

The H.R. 2730 bill would modify Title 49 of the United States Code to signify the higher minimum coverage amount and also “adjust such amount annually for inflation relating to medical care” as defined by the Bureau of Statistics. If approved, the amendment would go into effect 180 days after the bill is passed.