New Report on Auto Insurance Reform Paints a ‘Devastatingly Incomplete’ Picture of Impact on Crash Survivors
The Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council (MBIPC) today acknowledged a newly published report commissioned by the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), calling it incomplete.
“This report paints a devastatingly incomplete picture of the state’s landscape for anyone who needs care following a catastrophic accident,” MBIPC Executive Director Tom Judd said. “As the premier professional association of brain injury service providers, MBIPC is disappointed the resources invested in this study did not including seeking any alternative source of information with regard to access to care.”
The report admits its incomplete scope, stating that “it is not possible to conclude definitively that there are no or limited access to care impacts in post-reform auto accident victims from [DIFS] complaint data alone.”
Judd said that if the report had attempted to go beyond the flawed scope of DIFS complaint data alone and incorporated the quantitative and qualitative experience of long-term care providers or patient advocates, a clear and definitive statement could have been provided: the non-Medicare fee schedule has created significant barriers to access to care for the most vulnerable and severely injured people.
A deeper analysis would have clearly demonstrated how the low reimbursement is below the actual cost of care for catastrophically injured patients:
In hearings before the Senate Insurance Committee in October 2023, one home care company owner provided written testimony that they had to close their business entirely, stopping services for over 100 patients and laying off 565 employees.
Another home care provider testified with an example that in one week, they had to turn away 10 patients seeking their services.
A residential care provider testified that up to that point in that year alone, they had denied services to 27 referrals for patients needing their level of care and expertise.
“All these examples were a result of the fee schedule that cut their reimbursement rates by an egregious and arbitrary 55%,” Judd said. “The focus of the current Legislature needs to be on restoring access to care for catastrophically injured patients. MBIPC is optimistic that the current leadership in both chambers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ultimately understand the importance of a narrow solution and the need for legislative action.”
Judd said that while the report commissioned by DIFS does not articulate this need clearly, “the voices of injured constituents, their families and caregivers, disability right advocates, and ethical healthcare providers speak in unity: There is a crisis in care, and we need the legislature to act.”