Legislative Update Week of April 15th

This week saw a flurry of legislative activity on health issues and other that are big for the medical community, lets get into the review:

House:



Dr. Kenneth Elmassian testifying
to the House Health Policy Committee

This week the House Health Policy committee took testimony on House Bill 4524, the Patient Right to Know legislation. Dr. Kenneth Elmassian, MSMS President-Elect, testified to the committee providing his expertise to the committee on this issue. "It gives patients more information when they are seeking and receiving their health care," Elmassian said. "Let's be honest, the health care system is very confusing. Patients deserve better than the system is currently giving them." The committee members fired back though leaving those in the committee wondering if the legislation would have a hard time getting out. We will be waiting to see what the committee will do in the coming week and we will let you know if the legislation moves further in the process.

Senate:

Dr. Rose Ramirez answering questions
in the Senate Triple R committee.

The Senate Reform, Restructuring, and Reinventing committee this week took its final week of testimony and moved Senate Bill 2 out of the committee to the full Senate Floor for its consideration. We reported before that this legislation would provide a sweeping change to the Public Health code providing independance for NP's CNM's and CNS-C's. For more indepth information on the original bill click on "2" above to obtain bill language and legislative analysis from the Senate Fiscal Agency. Dr. Rose Ramirez, MSMS's Speaker of the House, testified to the committee with her personal professional experience starting out in nursing and then obtaining her MD and working as a physician. "As physicians, our overarching concern is with the well-being of our patients and that the laws and regulations of Michigan lead to health care that is safe, efficient, and of the highest quality.  Patients benefit from having a focused, team-based approach that encourages communication and collaboration among the various members of the team," Dr. Ramirez testified. Through the efforts of the testimony the legislation still made its way out of the committee with a vote count of 6-1.

Budget:

This week saw the Senate Appropriations committee working on their budgets getting them through committee and sent to the full Senate for their consideration. Still left out of the budget was the money for the MSMS supported expansion of Medicaid. Many people around the capitol say that this is a vote that some of the members are either against or uneasy about taking. We could see the budgets get to their final conference committee before a decision is made about the Medicaid expansion.

Auto No Fault:

This week the Governor, along with House and Senate Insurance Chairman, introduced their plan to reform Michigan's Auto No-Fault system. This is round two to a fail attempt last session. That plan created levels of coverage that a individual could purchase that would bring savings to the buyer of the plan. This time around they are taking a different approach by providing a cap for coverage up to $1 Million. Also in the new proposal there will be a pilot program that would provide lower cost insurance for those who in poverty, have a clean driving record, and have a low value vehicle. With this program they are hoping that it will entice those who do not have insurance to purchase it. In terms of fraud they are want to begin an auditor program that will be constantly looking for fraud. With this plan officials say that families with two vehicles could see a yearly savings of $250. 

“Take a good look at this plan: is it really in the public’s best interest? I hardly think so. Capping lifetime benefits at $1 million for the catastrophically injured ultimately will shove the most vulnerable victims onto Medicaid and will pile the financial responsibility to the taxpayers," said John Cornack, President of the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault (CPAN). We expect here in the next few weeks that hearings will begin in the appropriate committees.

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