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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Helping Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents Combined, this legislative package would give family units and their support systems more flexibility to provide reimbursable care, eliminate the use of standards not derived from medical professionals from being used to deny treatment, and refine the term “medical treatment” to carve out certain products, services, and accommodations from the fee cap system. The average Michigan driver pays just shy of $200/year in state gas taxes. The impacts of climate change cost so much more. We should absolutely provide residents financial relief so we can stand united against Putin. But we cannot condemn our own residents to the rapidly worsening impacts of climate change by going backward. The danger is at our doorsteps now. True energy independence is independence from fossil fuels. Renewables are now the cheapest source of energy. Electric Vehicles are here — and made right here in Michigan. Short-term: Let’s get you relief. Long-term: Let’s use every tool to accelerate toward TRUE energy independence. Click here to watch me take to the Senate floor to voice my opposition to this resolution. Access to reliable mental health care services is essential. Every person deserves to have the support and services they need when struggling with their mental and/or behavioral health. While there is no doubt we need to make improvements to mental and behavioral health access in Michigan, the conversation around reforms needs to be thoughtful and holistic, and that we ensure we are not creating a system that allows our most vulnerable residents to fall through the cracks. Any restructuring of Michigan’s Medicaid behavioral health delivery system should be centered around the people who receive services. Senate Bills 597 and 598 center instead on financial integration, which is a top-down approach that puts the financial interests of for-profit managed care entities before the people served. In conversations with many community mental health advocates, there has been a lot of concern expressed about the adverse impact these bills would have on communities across the state, potentially leaving our most at-risk residents vulnerable to being turned away from services when they need them the most. For these reasons, I oppose these bills. Sincerely,
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