MBIPC Applauds House Insurance Committee Chair Rendon’s Comment Acknowledging Disastrous Impact of Auto Reform Law on Survivors

MBIPC Applauds House Insurance Committee Chair Rendon’s Comment Acknowledging Disastrous Impact of Auto Reform Law on Survivors

Rendon to media: “These people who’ve already been victimized once should not have to be the victims of trying to find health care because their provider is no longer in business because they are not being paid.”

BRIGHTON, Mich.—(May 20, 2022)—Tom Judd, Board President of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council (MBIPC), today applauded the comments of House Insurance Committee Chair Daire Rendon regarding the negative impact that Michigan’s auto reform law has had on survivors of catastrophic accidents.

“These patients, who've already been victimized once, should not have to be the victim of trying to find health care because 'my provider is no longer going to be in business'” Rendon said Thursday to media outlets, as reported by MIRS News and Michigan Radio.

Michigan’s government-mandated 45% cut in care for catastrophic crash victims that was passed as part of auto reform has created a crisis of care for the thousands of survivors in the state. Providers of vital rehabilitative care to auto accident survivors have told lawmakers for years that the law, which went into effect after July 1, 2021, would inflict suffering on survivors who lose care. The House Insurance Committee has not held a hearing for any of the several bills introduced to resolve this issue.

“It’s gratifying to hear House Insurance Committee Chair Rendon reiterate with such conviction and force what car crash survivors and their care providers have been saying for nearly 3 years that, when the law was originally signed in 2019,” Judd said. “The ultimate impact of auto reform in our state has been to punish survivors and shutter the doors of providers. The Legislature created this crisis in care, and the Legislature can end it tomorrow by passing legislation to fix it.”