A bill introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would require commercial health insurance plans to cover long-term treatment for brain injuries from diseases, strokes, and falls.
Tom Judd, executive director of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council, said many residents' health insurance plans set annual limits for medical treatments — whether it's a broken bone or a brain injury.
But Judd said such limits are inappropriate for brain injuries. Brain injuries can range widely in severity from person to person, and, in many cases, they are chronic conditions, requiring services over a person's lifetime.
"It needs to be treated for what it is, and that's a chronic condition. It's not a one-time injury, where everybody should have the same expectation for rehabilitation. You need a completely different approach than your typical medical rehabilitation for a broken bone for example," Judd said.
The bill also requires insurance plans to cover services that currently many do not cover, Judd said, such as neurocognitive testing, speech therapy, and rehabilitation in residential treatment centers.
Judd said the bill is patterned on a successful law that has been in place for nearly ten years in 10 years. He said it has improved brain injury patients' access to services and their quality of life after their injuries — without significantly increasing insurance costs in Texas.
The Michigan Association of Health Plans said it's reviewing the bill.
