Michigan Health & Hospital Association is Latest to Call for End to Michigan’s Catastrophic Care Crisis

Michigan Health and Hospital Association is Latest to Call for End to Michigan’s Catastrophic Care Crisis

Judd: Auto insurance lobby is increasingly isolated in its efforts to block care for auto crash survivors

BRIGHTON, Mich.—(Feb. 20. 2022)—With the Michigan Health & Hospital Association—which represents all community hospitals—becoming the latest organization calling for an end to Michigan’s catastrophic care crisis, Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council president Tom Judd today issued the following statement.

“At a time when emergency rooms are overcrowded and hospitals are already short on beds and staff, Michigan’s catastrophic care crisis has put added pressure on healthcare providers and is impacting service for healthcare consumers across the state.

Because of the government-mandated 45% cut to catastrophic care, survivors of catastrophic accidents—including those with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and more—have been kicked out of their homes, discharged from their care providers, and dropped off at emergency room doors, because they have nowhere else to go. These are patients who do not need to be in hospital beds; they should be receiving the care they need in the comfort of their homes.

This crisis can and should be ended quickly, with a narrow and reasonable tweak to the existing law. Unfortunately, the powerful auto insurance lobby continues to stand in the way, because they don’t want to pay for the care of catastrophic survivors—care that these survivors were promised and are owed.

The Michigan Health & Hospital Association joins the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the Michigan Assisted Living Association, Disability Rights Michigan, the Brain Injury Association of America, Disability Network/Michigan, the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association, the Michigan League for Public Policy, the Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council, the Michigan HomeCare and Hospice Association, the League of Michigan Bicyclists and others in calling on the Legislature to take action.

Legislators should take notice that the auto insurance lobby is increasingly isolated in its efforts to block live-saving care for catastrophic accident survivors—an effort that is now impacting everyone in Michigan who receives care at a hospital.”