Reeve Foundation Urges Quick Passage of Bill to Protect Accident Victims’ Access to Necessary Rehabilitative Care
Legislation offers technical fix to auto insurance reform while preserving lower costs
BRIGHTON, Mich.—(April 14, 2021)— The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to funding research and advocating for people with spinal cord injuries, is applauding two bills introduced in the Michigan Legislature that will protect access to post-acute rehabilitative care for thousands of residents, and called for its quick passage to avoid chaos for patients and providers.
Senate Bill 314, introduced by Senator Curtis Hertel, Jr., of East Lansing, and House Bill 4468, introduced by Rep. Doug Wozniak, of Shelby Township, provide a narrow and technical fix for an unintended consequence of the 2019 auto insurance law: a fee schedule for rehabilitation services that cuts insurance coverage for care of catastrophic injuries nearly in half. If allowed to go forward, these drastic cuts will force the small businesses serving this vulnerable population to close, giving thousands of front-line workers the pink slip and throwing patients and families into disarray.
The Reeve Foundation sent letters to Michigan legislators and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressing its concern about the future care of people who have been injured in auto accidents. The group has been a tireless supporter of the state’s nonprofits serving the paralysis and spinal-cord injury communities. Since 1999, it has deployed nearly $650,000 in funding to Michigan clinics and providers.
“It is hard to ignore such a plea for assistance, and harder still to ignore the serious concerns from business owners working on the front lines,” the Reeve Foundation letter states. It went on to explain that if the legislature waits until the fee schedule is implemented, it will compound the precarious situation providers have been dealing with during the pandemic and leave patients without the care they need to maintain a life of dignity and independence.
The Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council, which represents health care professionals and facilities that care for people with severe brain injuries, recently conducted a statewide survey to measure the potential impact the non-Medicare fee schedule would have. The results were dire: a staggering 86% of post-acute care facilities have no or very little confidence that they can continue to operate their businesses. Meanwhile, there are roughly 6,000 patients expected to lose care if their providers are forced to close, and some of these patients are too severely injured to be cared for at home.
These patients, among the most vulnerable, may be left with no place to go after July 1 when the rehabilitation services fee schedule goes into effect, said MBIPC president Tom Judd.
Judd echoed the Reeve Foundation and said that if the bills don’t pass, MBIPC members’ ability to continue to provide treatment, care, and services is in tremendous jeopardy.
“Without the fix this bill provides, it’s not hyperbole to say that Michigan’s brain injury rehabilitation industry, which employs thousands of people serving patients with unique and complicated needs, will be decimated,” Judd said. “We need to listen to those on the front lines who are caring for these at-risk patients—they have first-hand, day-to-day knowledge of what these survivors need to thrive.”