WYOMING, Mich. — Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist came to West Michigan Tuesday as part of the administration’s push to pass healthcare proposals.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer called for codifying the Affordable Care Act in Michigan during her “What’s Next” address to the state the week prior.
This would include protections for pre-existing conditions, permitting children to remain on their parent’s insurance until 26, banning annual or lifetime caps on care and requiring insurance plans to cover essential services— ambulance services, birth control, mental health treatment and preventative care.
Lt. Gov. Gilchrist joined staff and other lawmakers to tour Catherine’s Health Center Wyoming and learn more about its services.
The state’s recently signed budget includes $150.6 million to boost reimbursement rates for Medicaid services to improve enrollee access to necessary healthcare, along with $25 million to increase support to local health departments to provide essential services.
“It’s to make sure that everyone in Michigan can be safe, can be healthy and can be positioned to be, have a chance of being successful and, and clinics like this, what Catherine’s is doing here in Wyoming and just here in the greater Grand Rapids area, is providing a foundation for infrastructure for more people to be able to access that,” Lt. Gov. Gilchrist said.
“Help is coming because we have a great leadership team in Lansing, along with two legislative bodies who are read to commit to fighting for every single person here in West Michigan and Michigan across the board,” Representative John Fitzgerald added. “We want people to know that the agenda, the policies that we’re putting forward are driven by people’s experiences, not just something that looks good in black and white, but instead, looks good in people’s pocketbooks and their livelihoods.”
READ MORE: Gov. Whitmer outlines future plans in her ‘What’s Next’ address
