Michigan citizens who survived COVID-19 under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have good reason to understand the health policy plans of would-be successors.

Sadly, many Michigan candidates for governor lack health policy substance, even though healthcare is a top issue for voters. And when they do propose to reform expensive, complicated healthcare, media often fails to report it.

Political promises and status quo are not going to cut it in 2026. We need in-depth, public conversation.

The four pillars of healthcare freedom in state health policy

We evaluate candidates in four categories.

Regulatory barriers
Healthcare regulation is extreme, among the worst in any industry. It raises prices and deters patient access, innovation, job entry, and staff retention.
Will candidates cut Michigan’s red tape, or will they keep trying to control healthcare from the top down?
Extra credit: universal license reciprocity; eliminating Certificate of Need and mandates for Implicit Bias Training.

Budget Discipline
Nearly all candidates mention Michigan’s incredibly bloated spending, or waste, fraud and abuse.
Extra credit: real-time audits, DOGE, HSAs, and cutting MDHHS appropriations, which take up over half of Michigan’s $82.5 Billion-dollar budget (2025).

Individual rights
Does the candidate understand inherent rights of life, liberty, and property?
Extra credit for NOT creating new special rights for some, but instead defending individual rights of all involved in healthcare: parents, patients, and clinicians.
Healthcare is personal, and local. We all need care at some point. For one in six Michigan residents, it’s their daily work. If clinicians aren’t allowed to freely practice, patients have fewer options. Then healthcare is more expensive and less free for everyone.

Limited government
Does the candidate want government to control healthcare more, or to reserve healthcare decisions to citizens?
This is where we file candidate proposals for impossible promises, new healthcare powers, and additional programs. Or for a change, an end to unelected agency rulemaking. Some would set limits; some want to expand state bureaucracy even more.

The pillars are closely interconnected.

Unlimited government produces vast quantities of regulation.

Excessive regulation is a barrier to parents, patents, and clinicians exercising rights to life, liberty, and property (including conscience).

Big government grows even bigger on big, sloppy budgets.

It takes strong citizens, capable of self-governance, to end the cycle.

All Michigan candidates should be able to discuss these four pillars.

At the very least, candidates should pledge to NOT make Michigan’s expensive, complicated health policy worse.

Limits of this Review

This review considers candidate health policy statements only.
It does not consider candidate campaign finances or statements on other important freedom issues.
Nor does it consider whether a candidate is electable, serious, or has a comprehensive, workable plan to reform state health policy. For all these reasons, it is not an endorsement.

Sources used to produce the chart

All candidate websites and health policy plans, where found.
Republic debates held in Traverse City and Oakland County.
News reports of a Democratic debate held this week. No video was available as of this writing.
For candidates’ detailed health policy positions, the Bridge MI interviews and WWMT News summary.