Michigan No-Fault (PIP) Benefits After the 2019 Reform: What Your Policy Pays After a Crash

If you were hurt in a car crash in Michigan, the first money for your care usually comes from your own auto insurance, not the other driver’s. Every Michigan auto policy includes personal injury protection (PIP), and PIP pays no matter who caused the crash. It covers reasonably necessary medical care, most of the income you lose for up to three years, up to $20 a day for household help, and support for dependents if someone dies. Since the 2019 reform, how much PIP pays for medical care depends on the coverage level chosen on the policy. Give the insurer written notice within one year.

Hurt and not sure where you stand? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Dollar figures in this guide are current as of September 2026.

What does PIP pay after a Michigan crash?

PIP benefits are paid “without regard to fault” (MCL 500.3105). You don’t have to prove the other driver caused the crash, and a mistake you made doesn’t reduce your benefits. Fault matters only if you sue the other driver, or they sue you.

The law sets out four kinds of PIP benefits (MCL 500.3107 and 500.3108):

Medical care and other “allowable expenses”

PIP pays reasonable charges for reasonably necessary products, services and accommodations for your care, recovery or rehabilitation. The law calls these allowable expenses. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), the state’s insurance regulator, lists services PIP pays for that Medicare typically doesn’t: attendant care, rides to and from medical appointments, vehicle modifications, case management, residential treatment programs, and long-term and custodial care.

Limits written into the law:

• A hospital room is covered at a reasonable semiprivate rate, unless you need special or intensive care.
• Funeral and burial costs are covered up to the amount in the policy, which must be between $1,750 and $5,000.
• Insurers don’t have to pay for medical marijuana.
• Insurers don’t have to pay for physical therapy unless a licensed physical therapist provides or supervises it under a prescription (MCL 500.3107b).

Lost income (“work loss”)

PIP pays for the income you would have earned from work during the first three years after the crash if you hadn’t been hurt. Because these benefits aren’t taxed, the law reduces them by 15% unless you show the insurer that your tax savings are smaller. That leaves 85% of the gross pay you lose.

There is also a cap for each 30-day period. It covers PIP work loss plus anything you earn from work in the same 30 days, and it depends on the date of your crash. DIFS adjusts it every October 1 (Bulletin 2026-20-INS):

For example, if you earned $4,000 a month before taxes and can’t work at all after a crash in November 2026, PIP would pay $3,400 a month (85%). If you earned $10,000 a month, 85% would be $8,500, so PIP would stop at the $7,455 cap.

Other work loss rules:

• If you were temporarily unemployed at the time of the crash, work loss is based on your earnings in your last month of full-time work before it (MCL 500.3107a).
• Benefits provided under a state or federal law for the same injury, such as workers’ compensation, are subtracted from PIP (MCL 500.3109).
• Income above the cap, or lost after the first three years, isn’t covered by PIP. You may be able to claim it from the at-fault driver.

Household help (“replacement services”)

PIP pays up to $20 a day for ordinary and necessary tasks you would have done yourself, without pay, for yourself or your dependents: housework, yard work or family meals that someone else must handle while you recover. It covers the first three years after the crash.

If someone died: survivors’ loss and funeral costs

When a crash is fatal, PIP pays survivors’ loss to the person’s dependents (MCL 500.3108): the financial support they would have received, not counting services, plus up to $20 a day toward the cost of replacing services the person would have done for them. A spouse’s dependency ends on remarriage; another dependent’s lasts only while they are under 18, unable to earn a living because of a physical or mental condition, or in school or job training full time (MCL 500.3110(3)). DIFS sets the same 30-day cap as for work loss ($7,455 for crashes from October 1, 2026), shared by all survivors, for up to three years after the crash.

A spouse who lived with the person, and a child under 18 (or older but physically or mentally unable to earn a living) who lived with or was regularly supported by the parent, are conclusively presumed to be dependents. Anyone else must show actual dependency (MCL 500.3110). A claim against the at-fault driver for the death is separate; see our wrongful death guide.

How much will PIP pay for your medical care?

Michigan overhauled its no-fault law in 2019 (Public Acts 21 and 22 of 2019, effective June 11, 2019, though many changes apply only from later dates). Before July 2, 2020, a Michigan policy could not cap PIP medical benefits. Now, for policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, the policyholder chooses a limit for the medical part of PIP (MCL 500.3107c). DIFS describes six options:

What the choice means after a crash:

• It applies to everyone on the policy: the policyholder, their spouse, relatives who live with them, and anyone else entitled to benefits under it (MCL 500.3107c(5)).
• It limits only medical benefits. Work loss, replacement services and survivors’ loss stay on every policy, even one that opts out of medical coverage, DIFS says.
• When the limit runs out, the insurer stops paying medical bills. DIFS warns that health insurance may not cover everything, and you may be personally responsible for the rest. You can claim medical expenses above your limit from an at-fault driver (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)).
• Check for an attendant care rider. Insurers must offer anyone with a limited option a rider that pays for attendant care above the limit (MCL 500.3107c(8)).
• Two policies don’t add up. Total medical benefits can’t exceed the highest single limit among the policies that cover you (MCL 500.3107c(6)).

With unlimited coverage, the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association reimburses your insurer for the portion of a very large claim above a set amount (MCL 500.3104), but you still claim from your insurer.

What if no one signed a coverage form?

The choice must be made on an approved form, signed on paper or electronically, or by recorded verbal instructions. If a verbal choice is disputed, the law presumes it wasn’t effective, and the insurer must overcome that with the recording (MCL 500.3107e). If no valid choice was made but a premium was paid, the premium is presumed to reflect the coverage level, though that can be challenged. Otherwise, the policy has unlimited medical coverage (MCL 500.3107c(3) and (4)).

Who can opt out of PIP medical coverage?

Most drivers can’t skip PIP medical coverage. The law allows it only for people who have other coverage that meets its test, which it calls qualified health coverage (MCL 500.3107d). That means either:

• Medicare Parts A and B (DIFS says Medicare Advantage also counts), or
• health coverage that doesn’t exclude or limit injuries from car crashes and has an annual deductible of $6,579 or less per person. That’s the DIFS figure for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 (Bulletin 2026-08-INS).

DIFS says Medicaid, VA coverage and indemnity plans don’t count; TRICARE and CHAMPVA do.

A full opt-out (Option 6) requires the policyholder to have Medicare Parts A and B. With the $250,000 level, household members with qualified health coverage can be excluded instead; a policyholder excluding themself needs qualified health coverage other than Medicare (Option 4, under MCL 500.3109a). Separately, people 60 or older who wouldn’t qualify for work loss benefits can waive that coverage for a lower premium (MCL 500.3107(2)).

If you opted out or were excluded and then get hurt:

• Your auto policy pays no medical benefits for you. Medicare or your health plan pays under its own rules, and you may owe out-of-pocket costs.
• DIFS points out that PIP pays for things Medicare typically doesn’t, such as attendant care, rides to appointments, vehicle modifications and long-term care.
• An at-fault driver can be held responsible for your medical expenses with no PIP limit to subtract (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)).

If the qualifying health coverage ends, the policyholder has 30 days to get PIP medical coverage (DIFS says new qualifying health coverage also works). Someone hurt during those 30 days with no other coverage can claim through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, up to $2 million for medical care. After 30 days without coverage, there are no PIP medical benefits (MCL 500.3107d(6), 500.3109a(2), 500.3172(7)).

Whose insurance pays your PIP benefits?

Michigan’s priority rules decide which insurer pays (MCL 500.3114 and 500.3115). In most cases your PIP comes from your own household’s policy, even if you were riding in a friend’s car or were hit while walking.

• Your own policy comes first. If a relative’s policy also covers you, your own insurer still pays, up to your own limit (MCL 500.3114(1)).
• The paying policy’s limit applies. If your household policy has a $250,000 medical limit, that’s your limit, even in someone else’s car. DIFS adds that a motorcycle crash with no car involved may not produce PIP benefits at all; see our guide to motorcycle accidents.
• If insurers argue over who pays, you or the insurers can notify the Assigned Claims Plan, which assigns an insurer to start paying while the insurers settle the dispute in court (MCL 500.3172).

What is the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan?

The Michigan Assigned Claims Plan is the safety net for people with no PIP coverage. It is run by the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility, which assigns each eligible claim to an insurer that handles it (MCL 500.3174). You can claim through the plan if (MCL 500.3172):

• no PIP insurance applies to your injury,
• no applicable insurance can be identified (this can come up after a hit-and-run crash),
• two or more insurers dispute who has to pay, or
• the insurer that owes benefits can’t pay because of financial trouble.

What to know before you apply:

• The deadline is one year. You must notify the plan of your claim within one year after the crash (MCL 500.3174). You apply on the claim form the plan provides and give reasonable proof of your loss. DIFS links to the plan’s website, michacp.org.
• Medical benefits are capped at $250,000. The cap is $2 million only in the lost-health-coverage situation described above (MCL 500.3172(7)).
• Other coverage comes first. Unless the plan is paying because insurers dispute which of them owes you, plan benefits are reduced by other benefits for the same loss, such as health insurance, but Medicare and Medicaid don’t count against you (MCL 500.3172(5)).
• You must cooperate, which can include answering questions under oath. Benefits are suspended while a claimant fails to cooperate, and a claim supported by a knowingly false statement can’t be paid (MCL 500.3173a).

Not sure which insurer owes you benefits? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Who can’t get PIP benefits?

Some people can’t get PIP from anyone, including the Assigned Claims Plan (MCL 500.3173). Under MCL 500.3113 (as amended effective October 17, 2025), you can’t be paid PIP benefits if, at the time of the crash:

• You were willingly driving or using a vehicle that had been taken unlawfully, and you knew or should have known it.
• You owned or registered a vehicle involved in the crash that didn’t have the required insurance.
• You weren’t a Michigan resident, unless you owned a vehicle registered and insured in Michigan.
• You were driving a vehicle under a policy that named you as an excluded driver.
• You owned or were driving a vehicle whose coverage was excluded under a policy exclusion the law allows for rideshare driving or peer-to-peer car sharing (MCL 500.3017, 500.3018). Michigan’s rideshare law separately requires insurance that includes PIP while a driver is logged on to the app (MCL 257.2123), so if this applies to you, have a lawyer check which coverage pays.

What is the medical fee schedule, and does it affect you?

Since July 2, 2021, Michigan law has capped what doctors, hospitals and other providers can be paid under PIP, using Medicare’s rates as the yardstick (MCL 500.3157). For care provided after July 1, 2023, the caps are:

Emergency ambulance services aren’t subject to these caps.

What this means for you:

• The fee schedule limits payment per service. Whether a service is covered at all still depends on whether it is reasonably necessary (MCL 500.3107).
• Family attendant care is limited to 56 hours a week. If a relative, someone you live with, or someone you knew before the injury provides attendant care in your home, the insurer only has to pay for up to 56 hours a week, unless it agrees to more (MCL 500.3157(10) and (11), using the limit in MCL 418.315). DIFS says medically necessary hours beyond that are still covered up to your limit, from a non-family provider.
• Your providers can pursue the insurer directly. A provider can sue the insurer for overdue payment (MCL 500.3112). If a provider asks you to pay a bill PIP should cover, ask it to bill the insurer.
• Insurers can question unusual care. Through “utilization review,” an insurer can ask a provider to justify treatment that is more frequent or longer than usual, and the provider can appeal to DIFS (MCL 500.3157a). DIFS says patients don’t need to act on a notice of such an appeal.

If your crash happened before June 11, 2019

The Michigan Supreme Court held in 2023 that the 56-hour family attendant-care limit and the caps for services Medicare doesn’t cover don’t apply to people injured while covered by a policy issued before June 11, 2019 (Andary v USAA Casualty Insurance Co, 512 Mich 207 (2023)). DIFS guidance from 2025 goes further, saying no part of the fee schedule applies to treatment for people hurt in crashes before that date (Bulletin 2025-11-INS).

What is the one-year rule for PIP claims?

MCL 500.3145 sets two separate one-year limits.

1. Notice within one year of the crash. You can’t sue for PIP benefits more than one year after the crash unless you gave the insurer written notice of your injury within that year, or the insurer has already paid PIP benefits for the injury.

2. The one-year-back rule. Once notice is given or benefits have been paid, you can sue within one year after the most recent expense or loss. But a lawsuit can only recover losses incurred during the year before it is filed. For example, a suit filed on August 1, 2028 generally can’t recover a bill incurred before August 1, 2027.

There is one exception. The one-year period is paused from the date you make a specific claim for payment until the insurer formally denies it. The pause doesn’t apply if you don’t pursue the claim with reasonable diligence (MCL 500.3145(3)). Keep track of every unpaid bill and every denial letter.

What your written notice should say

The notice must give the claimant’s name and address, and say in ordinary language who was injured and the time, place and nature of the injury (MCL 500.3145(4)). You or someone acting for you can send it to the insurer or its authorized agent. Use a method that proves delivery, and keep a copy.

How fast the insurer has to pay

PIP is paid as your losses come in. A benefit is overdue if it isn’t paid within 30 days after the insurer gets reasonable proof of the loss and the amount. If a medical bill reaches the insurer more than 90 days after the service, the insurer gets 90 days instead. Overdue benefits earn 12% simple interest a year (MCL 500.3142). If a court finds the insurer unreasonably refused or delayed payment, the insurer also pays a reasonable fee for your lawyer (MCL 500.3148). If benefits were denied or cut off, see what to do when a Michigan PIP claim is denied, and find every deadline in one place in Michigan personal injury deadlines.

Can you also sue the at-fault driver?

Yes, in specific situations. No-fault replaces most lawsuits over economic losses, but MCL 500.3135 keeps several claims open against a driver who caused the crash.

Pain and suffering needs a serious injury

You can recover noneconomic damages (losses that aren’t financial, such as pain and suffering) only if the crash caused death, a “serious impairment of body function,” or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)). A serious impairment is one that:

• is objectively manifested, meaning someone other than you can observe or perceive it from actual symptoms or conditions,
• affects an important body function, one of great value, significance or consequence to you, and
• affects your general ability to lead your normal life.

There is no minimum length of time the impairment must last. Each case is judged on its own facts, comparing your life before and after the crash (MCL 500.3135(5)). The 2019 law says the amended section is intended to codify the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in McCormick v Carrier, 487 Mich 180 (2010). Our guide to Michigan’s serious impairment threshold goes deeper.

Losses PIP doesn’t cover

You can also sue for excess economic loss (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)):

• medical and other allowable expenses above your PIP limit, or all of them if you opted out or were excluded, and
• work loss and survivors’ loss beyond PIP’s daily, monthly and three-year limits, such as income above the 30-day cap or lost after the first three years.

These claims don’t need a serious impairment. The at-fault driver can reduce lost-income damages by the taxes you would have paid on that income.

Damage to your car: the mini-tort

For crashes after July 1, 2020, you can recover up to $3,000 from the at-fault driver for vehicle damage your insurance doesn’t cover, such as your collision deductible. Your share of fault reduces that amount, and you get nothing if you were more than 50% at fault or your car was being driven without the required insurance. These cases go to small claims court whenever legally possible (MCL 500.3135(3)(e) and (4)).

Fault, insurance and deadlines

• Your share of fault reduces what you recover. If you are more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover pain and suffering, and your economic damages are reduced by your share (MCL 500.3135(2)(b), MCL 600.2959). See how comparative fault works in Michigan.
• Driving your own uninsured vehicle bars pain and suffering. If you were driving your own vehicle without the required insurance, you can’t recover those damages (MCL 500.3135(2)(c)).
• The deadline to sue is generally three years from the injury (MCL 600.5805(2)).
• Check the at-fault driver’s liability limits. For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, the default is $250,000 per person and $500,000 per crash, unless the policyholder signed a form choosing lower limits, as low as $50,000 and $100,000 (MCL 500.3009(1), (5)).

A lawsuit doesn’t shrink your PIP benefits

Your PIP benefits can’t be reduced because you have a claim against the other driver (MCL 500.3116(1)). Your PIP insurer can be repaid out of your recovery only in narrow cases: a crash outside Michigan, a claim against an uninsured owner or driver, or a claim for intentional harm. Even then, it can’t touch money for pain and suffering or for losses above what PIP paid (MCL 500.3116(2) and (4)).

For a walk through both claims together, see how Michigan car accident claims work. Our car accident lawsuit guide covers the lawsuit side in general terms, and how insurance companies evaluate injury claims explains what adjusters look at.

What to do next

1. Get medical care and keep every record. Save bills, receipts, mileage to appointments, work-absence notes and a log of the household help you needed. Our checklist of things to do after a car accident covers the first days.
2. Send written notice to the right insurer within one year. Start with your own household’s policy, unless one of the exceptions above applies. If no one in your household has auto insurance, apply to the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan within one year of the crash.
3. Get your policy paperwork. Ask for the declarations page and the signed PIP selection form, so you know your medical coverage level and whether you have an attendant care rider.
4. Put the deadlines on a calendar: one year from the crash for PIP notice, one year back for unpaid bills, and three years for a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
5. Get a free case review before you give a recorded statement or sign a release. A lawyer can check which insurer owes you and whether your injury meets the threshold for pain and suffering. You can compare Michigan injury lawyers and read how injury lawyers get paid. Get the fee agreement in writing.

What waiting can cost

• Missing the one-year notice can end your right to sue for PIP benefits, including benefits for future care.
• Letting unpaid bills sit past the one-year-back limit can put them beyond reach, even when notice was given on time.
• Waiting past three years can bar the claim against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering and for losses PIP doesn’t cover.

What a good outcome looks like

Your medical bills go to the right insurer and get paid. Wage-loss checks arrive within 30 days of your proof, and someone is paid to handle the chores you can’t do yet. Every notice goes out well before its deadline. If your injury is serious, a separate claim against the at-fault driver seeks your pain and suffering and the losses PIP doesn’t reach. You make each decision knowing your coverage, your deadlines and your fee agreement. For more, browse the vehicle accidents hub or the Michigan personal injury law reference.

Updated September 24, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.