GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Auto crash survivors, along with their families and care providers, plan to address the Kent County Board of Commissioners Thursday in an effort to urge Michigan lawmakers to review and amend the 2019 Auto Insurance Reform Act.
READ MORE: Gov. Whitmer, GOP reach deal to reform no-fault auto insurance
35 other counties throughout the state, including Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Allegan and Van Buren, already supported a resolution asking the Michigan legislature to save care and lives by restoring a “reasonable fee cap for home care.”
Those attending Thursday’s meeting hope to convince Kent County commissioners to join the effort.
The reform law set percentage limits on how much residential care facilities, home healthcare providers and others can be reimbursed for providing treatment and care to auto crash victims.
The Michigan HomeCare and Hospice Association says these reimbursement caps are 55-percent of the reimbursement rates that home care providers were collecting in 2019, which now is below cost of providing service and not sustainable.
Since the Michigan Auto No-Fault reform law went into effect July 2, 2021, many of the 18,000 catastrophic auto crash survivors and their families are unable to find care due to the 45-percent cut to post-acute providers.
REFERENCE: ‘Look at the facts and act’: 2nd report on impact of No-Fault law changes is released
“The 2019 reform has left a heavy burden for the most vulnerable, catastrophic auto crash survivors and their families. Addressing the 55-percent cap on post-acute care will immediately save vital care to thousands of catastrophically injured, save hundreds of good companies, save thousands of healthcare jobs, save lives. We are requesting Majority Leader Shirkey and Speaker Wentworth do the right thing and allow legislators to return to Lansing and fix this devastating humanitarian crisis. Just as county commissions across the state understand this issue and support a legislative fix, the votes are in our Michigan legislature to pass it also. How two people can stop a vote on an issue having so much legislative support is unimaginable.”
The Kent County Board of Commissioners meet Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in the Kent County Administrative Building, Room 310.
