House Leaders Run Down Clock on Narrow Solution with Bipartisan Support that Would End Michigan’s Care Crisis
BRIGHTON, Mich.—(Dec. 18, 2024)—A new solution that would provide a narrow fix to the 2019 auto no-fault law apparently will not be part of Lame Duck priorities for House leadership, the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council said today. Unfortunately, yet another legislative session will end without a solution to the draconian fee schedule set forth in the 2019 auto no-fault law that essentially makes necessary long-term care inaccessible for people catastrophically injured in a car crash.
“It appears top leaders in the House have been successful in running out the House clock as if this were a political game,” said Tom Judd, MBIPC executive director. “This isn’t a game. Lives are at stake. The truth is there is bipartisan support for this type of narrow solution. As has been the case for the last five years, votes are there to pass this legislation—yet the insurance lobby has benefited from having gatekeepers in key leadership positions who have been able to keep solutions from coming to the floor for a vote.”
Compared to previous bills designed to address this issue—including Senate Bills 530, 531 and 575, which were passed with bipartisan support by the Senate in 2023—these newly proposed solutions narrow and limit their scope to ensuring access to the most critical long-term services, and those most impacted by the non-Medicare reimbursement cap.
The proposal:
Ensures consumers paying for lifetime benefits have access to the services they need.
Utilizes national- or state-level standard fee schedules as the basis for the reimbursement rates of essential long-term care services.
Sets rates for essential long-term services, ensuring consistency, predictability and reliability to the system – eliminating unnecessary litigation.
Codified the Supreme Court Decision in the Andary case.
Eliminates the arbitrary and careless hourly limitations to the family provider care, allowing families and doctors to establish a plan of care that meets the needs of injured people.
The proposal does not change the Medicare section of the fee schedule, and it does not affect other aspects of the 2019 reform law, including Personal Injury Protection (PIP) choice. It only provides for reasonable reimbursement rates for essential long-term services ensuring drivers choosing to purchase lifetime benefits have access to the care they are promised.
Since the Senate bills were passed in 2023, more than 5,785 people have suffered serious injuries on Michigan roads. These survivors—and everyone who gets injured in the future—will struggle to find the care they need until a fix is passed.
“Our coalition came in good faith with this new solution to address specific areas that specific leaders wanted to see addressed,” Judd said. “We stepped up. Unfortunately, it appears the House of Representatives won’t get a vote to do the same. We hope that if this is the case, the incoming leadership will finally listen to their constituents, crash survivors, families, and advocates and allow a vote to occur that will end this sad chapter in our state’s history. Elected leaders must restore access to care for catastrophically injured drivers—not doing so is a betrayal of their sworn duties.”