New Documentary Highlights Five Years of Unintended Consequences

As the Crisis in Care reached the 5-year mark and the Legislature left for its summer break (for the fourth consecutive year without action to end the crisis), Ugly Dog Entertainment released the trailer to their documentary “Unintended Consequences.” The piece includes interviews with car crash survivors, family members, past and current legislators, and medical providers – highlighting the tragedies that have ensued since the passage of the no-fault reform law of 2019. Within the 4-minute clip, those interviewed discuss the purported reasons behind the 2019 law, their theories on the true motivation, and personal experiences of anguish since – including at least 15 confirmed deaths and the potential for more. The trailer also includes perspectives from those interviewed on who could end the Crisis in Care.

The Ugly Dog Entertainment project is independent from MBIPC and our collaborative partners. At this time, MBIPC does not explicitly endorse the potential conclusion of the project and will reserve specific comments about content until the project is final. However, as has been the case for the last five years, we support any independent pursuit of truth and efforts to further illuminate the issues of access to care.

Conspicuously absent from the trailer is the Insurance Alliance of Michigan – the primary lobby group behind the 2019 law; the Department of Insurance and Financial Services, which has defended the law; the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA), past and present chairs of the legislative insurance committees, the Governor’s office, and past and present legislative leaders who have purposefully and willfully stopped any solutions from passing their respective chambers. As one of the project’s producers articulates in this interview with WJR, their absence is not due to a lack of effort by Ugly Dog Entertainment. However, it does raise questions about their willingness to engage in a public dialogue about the impact of the 2019 law.  

Staying true to their position over the last five years, the supporters of the draconian 45% reimbursement cut to essential long-term care services and opponents of any narrow changes to the law continue to refuse to sit down for an extensive public interview, answer direct questions, and provide legitimate facts to support their position. They continue to hide behind closed doors in Lansing, where they can spread unchecked misinformation without the threat of any real challenging questions to hold them accountable. Instead of participating in an effort to objectively cover the passage of the 2019 law and the subsequent impact it has had on the cost of insurance as well as access to care for Michigan consumers, they stick to their playbook of spreading vague data while shifting attention away from the real issue at hand – the suffering of accident survivors and the continued scam being perpetrated on the 70% of Michigan drivers that choose to purchase lifetime benefits.

Of course, this is no surprise to anyone paying attention to this issue. This is how the 2019 law was drafted and passed—with negotiations and deals made behind closed doors, without balanced representation that included medical providers and consumer advocates, and with a rushed passage in the middle of the night without any reasonable opportunity for lawmakers to review and understand the 100-page law.

For the five years since the preposterous process that has resulted in the Crisis in Care, the supporters and beneficiaries of the law have stuck with what worked in 2019 – secrecy and avoidance of any real public accountability. While MBIPC holds on our final conclusions and comments on the Ugly Dog Entertainment project, we hope that it will force those who have been able to thrive in the shadows, exert influence behind closed doors, manipulate public information, and determine policy without accountability into the light.

The opportunity for a fair, balanced, and objective public conversation continues to be available. Once again, it is up to all stakeholders in this issue to value transparency, accountability, and, ultimately, the truth. In the meantime, providers will continue to be forced to turn crash victims away from rehabilitation and life-sustaining care, insurance companies will continue to be permitted to sell policies without needing to pay out on the promised benefits, and most tragically, people will continue to suffer.

The ending to this sad chapter in our state’s history does not have to be already written. It is never too late to acknowledge a mistake and rectify it. It is never too late to do the right thing. It is never too late to choose people over politics and power. And it is certainly never too late to restore justice, fairness, and value of human life and dignity. We urge Governor Whitmer, Speaker Joe Tate and Majority Leader Winne Brinks to come together and create a path towards the solutions that are so desperately needed.

Sincerely,

Tom Judd

Executive Director