RACINE COUNTY - When new customers walk into Fuhrman Insurance in Franksville, agent Judy Jurgens sits down with them and explains rates for auto coverage. Then she explains why they might go up if a new budget proposal goes through.

As part of the budget process, the Joint Finance Committee voted two weeks ago to leave car insurance optional but increase minimum coverage for those who choose to buy it.

It's going to the Legislature this week as part of the nearly 2,000-page proposed budget. Local car insurance agents are warning that it would mean higher rates, but others say it could help control health insurance costs.

Currently, when drivers buy auto insurance they are only required to buy coverage for up to $50,000 in personal injury damages if they hit someone, and $50,000 in coverage in case they are hit and the other driver is uninsured. Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal would increase that so drivers buying insurance would have to buy coverage for up to $300,000 in personal injury damages if they hit someone, and another $300,000 in coverage in case they are hit and the other driver is uninsured, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Those who buy insurance would also be required to buy underinsured insurance, in case the person who hits them does not have enough insurance to pay medical bills.

The Wisconsin Association for Justice, which is made up of lawyers who represent injured clients, says the proposal will not increase insurance costs very much. It also could help the state health care system and private health care costs, said Keith Clifford, who is past president of the association.

When car insurance coverage is low, the health care system ends up picking up the cost for serious injuries, Clifford said. For people without private insurance, that means the "taxpayer becomes the insurer of last resort," Clifford said.

Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, is on the Joint Finance Committee which kept the proposal in the budget.

The state has not increased the amount of minimum coverage for drivers in more than 20 years, Lehman said. Besides that, 75 percent to 80 percent of insured Wisconsin drivers already have insurance that covers up to $300,000 in accident damages, Lehman said, citing the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Even though Lehman voted for the budget, which includes the proposal, he wants to see mandatory insurance. He has brought it before the Legislature in the past and plans to bring it forward again this year with "full outside-the-budget debate," he said.

The average charge per injury-related in-patient hospitalization in Racine County during 2002-04 was $19,202.85, according to a Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services' report. But for a serious accident, people can spend $25,000 per day on hospital costs and end up paying $100,000 to $300,000 in medical costs, said Fred Placek, an insurance agent at Insurance Solutions Plus, 829 S Green Bay Road.

Placek knows medical costs can get expensive, but he is concerned that mandatory coverage increases would lead more people to drop their insurance.

"You are just encouraging more people to say forget it," Placek said. It's an opinion Jurgens shares with him.

"With the way the economy is going, people cannot afford more," Jurgens said. If people can only afford minimum liability, "it's better they have that than none at all," she said.

State Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, who is also on the Joint Finance Committee, said he is concerned about potential increased insurance rates in today's economy. But to help, the committee changed the proposal so that increases would take place gradually and coverage would not increase to $300,000 until 2012, Mason said.

Car insurance breakdown

Liability coverage:

Injury coverage if you hit someone. It covers people in the other car and passenger in your vehicle

Current minimum: $50,000 per accident

Proposed minimum: $300,000 per accident

Uninsured coverage:

Coverage for your injuries if the person who hits you does not have insurance

Current minimum: $50,000 per accident

Proposed minimum: $300,000 per accident

Underinsured coverage:

Coverage for your injuries if the person who hits you does not have enough insurance

Currently: Not required

Proposed minimum: Mandatory $300,000 per accident

Source: Legislative Fiscal Bureau