Michigan’s lame duck session is hurtling to a close soon. A bill that passed the House on Friday would allow Michigan to use Medicaid funds to pay for community violence intervention services in hospitals.
Those services can include social service referrals and mental health support. Detroit credits this type of approach with a significant reduction in crime in neighborhoods where these services are offered.
But in hospitals, the work is often done by volunteers. Medicaid funding could pay them for their time, said state Representative Christine Morse (D-Portage), the bill’s sponsor.
“If you consider gun violence is a public health crisis, it just makes sense to use Medicaid funding to fight it,” she said. Many victims of gun violence either use Medicaid or aren’t insured at all. The bill would require Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services to get approval from the federal government to use Medicaid funding for these programs.
Other states already use Medicaid funds this way, Morse said. Intervention services address the lingering psychological and emotional wounds to victims and their families.
“You need a lot of different tools in your toolbox to try to combat gun violence that exists today,” she said.
It's unclear whether the state Senate will act on the bill before the end of the lame duck session.
