Frustrated survivors and their advocates in Michigan have kicked off a campaign in hope of convincing Democratic State Rep. Brenda Carter, the chair of the House Insurance and Financial Services Committee, to hold hearings on bills to restore access to many forms of long-term care for catastrophically injured car crash survivors.
Carter has declined to schedule Senate Bills 530, 531 and 575 for a hearing before her committee. The bills establish state-wide reimbursement rates for long-term care services for crash survivors.
That's in place of the current law, which in 2019 cut the reimbursement rates by 45% - well below the cost of providing most long-term medical care. Thousands of people lost their long-term care after the law passed, and some died as a result.
“For years, Brenda Carter told us she would fight for our families," the group's press release said. "We believed her. Now it feels like she’s only listening to the big insurance companies. We’ve had enough, and we’re going to start calling her out by name.”
Advocates placed flyers on the windshields of vehicles attending Carter's re-election fundraiser in Pontiac. On each flyer was a link to a different TikTok video, on the theme of "Where's Brenda Carter?"
@wecantwaitmi #BrendaCarter we're still waiting on a hearing on SB 530, 531, & 575. #WeCantWaitMI #Michigan #MichiganPolitics #autoinsurance #Michiganders #PureMichigan ♬ original sound - We Can't Wait MI
Staff in Carter's office said they could not get a response from Carter in time for Michigan Public's deadline. Carter has told other media groups that she does not think the Senate bills are the right "fix."
Carter also said she is working to develop alternate bills that would address the problem of long-term care access for survivors. She has not publicly disclosed any details of the alternate plan.
Carter is not the only one who opposes action on the Senate bills. The Department of Insurance and Financial Services said the bills would raise insurance rates and increase the number of uninsured drivers — although the agency said it did not know by how much car insurance premiums would go up, nor how many additional people in Michigan would drive without car insurance if the bills passed.
The Insurance Alliance of Michigan, a lobby group that represents the insurance industry in the state, also opposes the bills. IAM Executive Director Erin McDonough testified before the Senate Committee last year that the bills would raise average car insurance rates by about about $8-$16 per month for customers with less than unlimited medical coverage limits, and about $16-$25 per month for those with unlimited medical coverage.
Many survivors, care providers, and no fault attorneys also feel betrayed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had promised not to sign no fault bills that deprived survivors of necessary care. Upon signing the bills into law, Whitmer said the bills were "not perfect," and the state legislature would fix any problems later.
Advocate Maureen Howell said the governor's near-silence on the issue since then is deeply disappointing.
"We have seen our governor, when she really cares about something, be an incredibly strong governor, to be a forceful governor," said Howell. "If she truly cared about these people —who are our most vulnerable citizens in Michigan and are injured at a rate of 1,000 a year – she would have gotten the job done."
The Department of Insurance and Financial Services estimates the no fault law has been saving customers approximately $24 a year on average per vehicle on car insurance. Michigan remains one of the most expensive states in the nation for car insurance.
The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association fee — which pays for injury claims over $635,000 — has also plummeted. That's primarily because so many severely injured crash survivors no longer have access to long-term care.
*Clarification: This story was clarified to include the full range of car insurance rate increases to be expected if SB 530/531 pass, according to the Insurance Alliance of Michigan.
