Last month I noted that Michigan legislative Democrats were planning on passing a package of bills designed to repeal a bunch of restrictions on abortion & other reproductive healthcare:
Dems to end 24-hour abortion waiting period, ban on Medicaid funding of procedure
LANSING — Michigan Democrats said Wednesday they will repeal laws that require a 24-hour waiting period to have an abortion performed, impose what they say are costly and unnecessary regulatory burdens on abortion clinics, prohibit abortions funded by Medicaid, and ban private health insurers from automatically covering abortions under standard policies.
The list includes 9 major items (some of which actually include a lot more than one provision within them). It really should include ten, since I forgot about implementing a Basic Health Plan program like New York and Minnesota have (and as Oregon is ramping up to do soon as well), but it's still a pretty full plate.
Last Tuesday I noted that a package of bills designed to codify various ACA protections into state law here in Michigan (most of which are low-hanging fruit of my own healthcare wish list which I posted back in February) had managed to make it halfway through the legislative process: Five of them have passed the Michigan House, but not the Senate; the other three have passed the Michigan Senate...but not the House. I applauded the state legislature for pushing these bills halfway through and encouraged them to get the other half of the job done.
The list includes 9 major items (some of which actually include a lot more than one provision within them). It really should include ten, since I forgot about implementing a Basic Health Plan program like New York and Minnesota have (and as Oregon is ramping up to do soon as well), but it's still a pretty full plate.
(LANSING, MICH) The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) is reminding consumers that they have the right to appeal a denial of a health insurance claim to DIFS after attempting resolution through the insurer’s appeal process. To assist Michiganders with these appeals, the state has launched a newly updated consumer website that offers more information and answers to frequently asked questions.
The list includes 9 major items (some of which actually include a lot more than one provision within them). It really should include ten, since I forgot about implementing a Basic Health Plan program like New York and Minnesota have (and as Oregon is ramping up to do soon as well), but it's still a pretty full plate.
The Michigan Dept. of Financial Services hasn't issued any press release yet, but nearly all 2024 preliminary rate filings for the MI individual and small group markets are available via the SERFF database.
The only one missing as of today is UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Inc.; they have most of their 2024 forms on record but there's no Actuarial Memo or URRT form included for the individual market, so I can't seem to find their actual requested rate changes or their enrollment as of March 2023.
In any event, I'm not seeing anything too odd here. Unlike other states with preliminary filings so far this year, Michigan carriers are seeking a fairly reasonable 5.6% average rate hike on the individual market and 7.0% for the small group market.
It's worth noting that two of the three indy market carriers asking for double-digit rate hikes (Alliance and HAP) both only offer off-exchange policies. The third, MacLaren, is also pulling out of the small group market entirely. It's also possible that Humana is dropping out of the small group market, although I'm not sure about that one.
To: State Department Directors and Autonomous Agency Heads
From: Governor Gretchen Whitmer
The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, required Medicaid programs to keep participants continuously enrolled and provided additional federal funding to do so. In December 2022, Congress passed a law ending the continuous enrollment and winding down the associated federal funding. As a result, more than 3 million Michiganders will need to undergo redeterminations for Medicaid coverage or find alternative health insurance if they no longer qualify.
New DIFS Bulletin to Protect LGBTQ+ Michiganders from Discrimination in Insurance, Financial Markets
March 17, 2023
(LANSING, MICH) The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) has issued a bulletin that reaffirms the department’s commitment to protecting Michiganders from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in the insurance or financial services industries. The bulletin ensures that the insurance and financial services industries, including health insurance, must comply with the newly-amended Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act as signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer yesterday afternoon.
Dear Governor Whitmer, House Speaker Tate, Senate Majority Leader Brinks, House Health Policy Committee Chair Rogers & Senate Health Policy Chair Hertel:
Five years ago, ahead of the 2018 midterm election, I wrote an open letter to all Michigan Democratic legislative candidates with a healthcare policy wish list. It included 26 ways to Protect, Repair & Strengthen the #ACA at the state level, several of which overlapped with the Democratic caucus's "Michigan Health Care Bill of Rights."
Unfortunately, while Democrats made large gains in Michigan in 2018, we didn't quite flip control of either the state House or Senate; it would take another four years to pull that off. Fortunately, that did happen last November, giving Democrats a trifecta in the House, Senate and Governor's office at the same time for the first time in decades, so it's time for me to compile an updated version of my Michigan healthcare policy wish list.
