Hospitals will argue inflation, everything costs more, we're losing money, etc.

I reply: fees at independent radiology centers (like Basha Diagnostics in SE Michigan, and The Imaging Center in West MI) include a CD of images plus the written report, and still beat hospital prices.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026      9:00 AM

AGENDA

HB 5681 (Rep. Phil Green)
Health: medical records; medical record fees; modify.

HB 5903 (Rep. Bierlein)
Health facilities: certificate of need; allowable use of hospital swing beds; expand to include behavioral health patients.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Many variables (refundable, income limits, eligible expenses, age/disability criteria, etc.) are summarized in an ASPE issue brief.

Michigan's bill is so fresh off the press, no fiscal analysis is yet available.

Non-health bills are in italics.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026     12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 5779 (Rep. Harris)
Financial institutions: credit unions; commitment for insurance from a qualified private insurance organization; allow for domestic credit unions in certain filings.

HB 5780 (Rep. McFall)
Financial institutions: credit unions; insurance from a qualified private insurance organization; allow for domestic credit unions during certain conversions.

HB 5781 (Rep. Schuette)
Financial institutions: credit unions; insurance from a qualified private insurance organization; allow for foreign credit unions.

HB 5782 (Rep. Lightner)
Financial institutions: credit unions; insurance from a qualified private insurance organization; allow for domestic credit unions.

HB 5783 (Rep. Brenda Carter)
Financial institutions: credit unions; certain communication with a qualified private insurance organization; allow.

HB 5214 (Rep. Schmaltz)
Individual income tax: credit; credit for eligible family caregivers; provide for.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Some enterprising investigators from WC Dispatch's Corruption Watch have found that companies dissolved by LARA still have National Provider Identifiers (NPI) registered on the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) registry and are billing the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) for big bucks.  They have identified 21 dissolved Michigan corporations, entities LARA had declared legally dead, billed MDHHS for $ 118.8 million after their LARA dissolution dates.  This isn't just a paperwork error, it is deliberate fraud.

Walter Curt of WC Dispatch uses the case of Grace Points, Inc. in Dearborn to illustrate the intricate frauds taking place and how they are concealed from scrutiny:

https://www.wcdispatch.com/p/something-stinks-in-michigan

https://www.wcdispatch.com/p/the-new-michigan-medicaid-fraud-machine

Something Stinks in Michigan
Dead Companies, Demolished Buildings, and Hundreds of Millions of Your Taxpayer Dollars.
By Walter Curt - Apr 19, 2026

Editor's note: Welcome to the second installment of Corruption Watch, WC Dispatch's investigative series exposing the leftists, illegal aliens, and NGOs defrauding Americans. We're proud to partner with Restoration News to amplify these on-the-ground investigations, beginning in Michigan. Read the first installment HERE

What do a demolished building, a dental office, and an immigrant hub have in common? In Michigan, they’re all billing Medicaid, and you’re paying for it.

We went looking for a lead. All we found was a demolition team eating lunch.

That crew gave us information that sent us to 21 dissolved businesses and $118.8 million in post-dissolution claims. Grace Points Inc. was the demolished building.

Medicaid records showed the company was tied to $2.4 million in billing, but when we went to the address on file in Dearborn, all that was there was a gutted shell: no walls, no windows, no sign, no suite numbers, just a parking lot that had not seen a patient in years.

When we pulled the records, the story got worse.

Dead on Paper, Billing on Schedule

Grace Points Inc. was not just physically gone. It was legally dead.

Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) shows Grace Points Inc. was dissolved effective March 24, 2023, and the certificate was filed with the state a week later. On paper, the company was done.

In case you need proof this company wasn’t in operation, here’s what it looks like today:

But the billing did not stop. Medicaid claims data show the Grace Points NPI (National Provider Identifier 1962920397), registered on the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) registry to “Grace Points Inc.” at 23400 Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, kept billing through November 2024, more than twenty months after the corporation ceased to exist on Michigan’s books. A single month of claims from February 2022 pre-dates the dissolution. Everything else—the overwhelming majority of the $2.42 million in total claims across roughly fourteen beneficiaries—came after the state’s records said Grace Points Inc. was done.

Fourteen beneficiaries––$2.42 million. That works out to roughly $173,000 per person over 33 months. At the H2015 reimbursement rate, that implies more than eight hours of community habilitation services per beneficiary per day, every single day, for 33 straight months. That is physically impossible.

To understand how that happens, you have to understand two things: who was running Grace Points, and what happened to the name itself in Michigan’s business registry around the dissolution.

The Omauvezi Network

One name connects every piece of this: Oghenereke Lisa Omauvezi.

Except it never appears the same way twice. Across the Medicaid billing, the federal contracting paperwork, and the Michigan corporate filings, the same signer reappears as Lisa Oghenereke Omauvezi, Elizabeth Oghenereke Omavuezi, and Elizabeth Omavuezi-Eke. The middle name holds. The surname shifts by a single letter. The first name alternates between Lisa and Elizabeth. A clerk searching one variant would not find the others.

She is the Authorized Official on NPPES for NPI 1962920397—the Grace Points Medicaid provider identifier—at 23400 Michigan Avenue, Suite P44, in Dearborn. The registry of federal contractors, SAM.gov, lists her as the point of contact for Grace Point LLC at the same street address in Suite P30.

Same building. Different suite. Same person. Two separate federal registries pointing at a Dearborn address that appears nowhere on the state database.

Just as the signer’s name shifted across records, the corporate name shifted across filings. The state record kept cycling names. The federal record stayed parked at the building.

Laundering The Name

There was not one clean Grace Points corporate history. There was a cluster.

The entity dissolved by Elizabeth Omavuezi-Eke on March 24, 2023 was Grace Points Inc. (LARA ID 802432113), and that is where it starts to stink.

A separate corporation (LARA ID 801985904) was actually the original Grace Points Inc. Incorporated on January 19, 2017, by one Oghenereke Lisa Omauvezi, but the name didn’t hold long. In the Articles of Incorporation, the corporation’s purpose appears in one handwritten line: “Staffing Agency.” Not healthcare.

In April 2018, Lisa Oghenereke Omauvezi filed a Certificate of Amendment to rename Grace Points Inc. as “Grace Staffing Solutions Inc.”— the word “Points” accidentally dropped. A May correction added the missing word, producing “Grace Points Staffing Solutions Inc.” Then a second correction, filed in June, voided the entire amendment and restored Grace Points Inc. Apparently she couldn’t make up her mind.

But she wasn’t done. In December 2019, Lisa Omauvezi filed a new amendment — and this one stuck. Effective March 15, 2020, Grace Points Inc. legally became Omega Staffing Solutions, clearing the Grace Points name off of 801985904’s books.

Just two days later, she opened a second shell. On March 17, 2020, Lisa Omauvezi signed the Articles of Incorporation for a new Grace Points Inc. Same registered office at 835 Mason Street in Dearborn. Same authorized shares: 60,000. Same one-line stated purpose: “Staffing Agency.” LARA accepted the filing on March 24, 2020. The legal name “Grace Points Inc.” had been off the books for less than a week before it was back on Michigan’s registry—attached to a parallel corporation at the same Dearborn mailbox.

By February 2022, the shell was put to work. Medicaid paid $84,814 to “Grace Points Inc.” at 23400 Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. It was the test payment—proof that the parallel shell was already active, already billing, and already positioned to carry the Grace Points Inc. name while the original corporation continued as Omega Staffing Solutions.

Now the whole scheme was in motion.

The Loop

On March 24, 2023, Grace Points Inc. was formally dissolved, freeing the name in Michigan’s registry. Seven days later, on March 31, Omega Staffing Solutions changed its name back to Grace Points Inc.

The same person, Elizabeth Oghenereke Omavuezi, signed both moves: first dissolving one Grace Points, then restoring the name to the other. LARA accepted the rename on April 19, 2023. From that date forward, a still-living corporation had re-occupied the name of a corporation that had just been killed off a week earlier.

The effect, across every downstream system that tracks providers by name—NPPES, Michigan Medicaid’s provider files, banks, insurers, payers—was that “Grace Points Inc.” had never gone anywhere. The name stayed alive. The NPI stayed active. And that is when the real billing run began: the entire $2.42 million, minus the first test payment of $84,814, was billed only after one Grace Points had been dissolved and the other had stepped into its name.

Then, in February 2025, the loop closed. Grace Points Inc. was renamed back to Omega Staffing Solutions Inc. the very same day Omega filed to do business as “Grace Points Inc.” The DBA was filed again in August. Then, in October 2025, the paperwork was amended so the legal name read, literally, “GRACE POINTS INC/DBA OMEGA STAFFING SOLUTIONS INC.” Both identities, folded into a single line.

This is what name laundering looks like in practice. A name is loaded into a corporate shell and billed against. When scrutiny catches up, the shell is retired. A parallel shell with the same name absorbs or masks the history. Then the name is cycled back to the continuing operation under a legal maneuver that, read one filing at a time, looks unremarkable—but read as a sequence. It’s a closed loop designed to make sure “Grace Points Inc.” was always legally attached to the cluster, no matter when an auditor pulls the records.

Riding the Wave

What happened at Grace Points was no clerical error. It was choreography. With the name-laundering loop complete, the real billing run began—and it never paused.

The timing of the main run tells the rest. In April 2023, the claims came roaring back—the same month Michigan finalized the name swap that put “Grace Points Inc.” back on the state’s books, and just days before Michigan Democrats’ Behavioral Health Home expansion took effect on May 1—Grace Points rode the wave.

The federal paperwork never matched either. In March 2021, an entity calling itself Grace Points Inc. took a $114,523 pandemic-related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the Small Business Association classified under financial services—not healthcare—for a company whose only line of work was community habilitation for people with developmental disabilities. At that moment, the continuing corporation in the cluster was not even legally named Grace Points Inc. It was Omega Staffing Solutions. Federal lending records, state corporate records, and federal Medicaid records all carried different names for the same operation.

Grace Points was not an outlier. The pattern ran deeper.

Ghost Corporations

Grace Points Inc. became the blueprint we needed.

On the hunt for more dead businesses, we ran more than 600 Michigan Medicaid entities against the state’s LARA business registry. What came back was not a handful of bad actors, but a graveyard.

Twenty-one dissolved Michigan corporations, entities the state itself had declared legally dead, exposed $118.8 million in Medicaid billing after their dissolution dates. Not suspicious billing. Not bad paperwork––companies that no longer legally existed. The details made Grace Points look modest.

Tema Pefok’s Precious Care Home Health Care, Inc. was dissolved by the state back in 2014 and then sat quiet. In September 2023—almost a decade after Precious Care legally ceased to exist—it suddenly reappeared in the Medicaid billing stream and pulled in $2.3 million. Every dollar of it came after dissolution.

Ikechukwu Obum’s MICHOLDINGS billed $15.2 million after the state legally dissolved the business in 2022. Tari Efebo of Serenity Community Care actually waited six months after dissolution before billing Medicaid—and continued to do so for several consecutive years at nearly half a million dollars a year. How nice of him to wait?

And then there was Dental Medical Services Inc. This one deserves honorable mention because you cannot make it up. Dental Medical Services ceased to exist in 2004 through a corporate merger. More than a decade later, it began billing Medicaid for developmental disability treatments, to the tune of $4 million.

You get the point. The pattern persists across all twenty-one entities—different names, different addresses, same result. $118.8 million billed through companies the state itself had declared dead. The question was no longer who was doing this. It was how they were getting away with it.

How it Happened

The reason this kept happening is simple, and damning. Michigan’s LARA tracks whether corporations are legally alive or dead. The state’s Medicaid system controls enrollment and payments. The two do not appear to meaningfully talk to each other. So when LARA dissolves a corporation, nothing automatically stops the money. No notice to the Medicaid system. No lock on enrollment. No audit flag. Claims keep getting submitted and paid through companies that no longer legally exist under Michigan law.

As one might imagine, this opens up the floodgates for fraud and abuse.

That failure carries real consequences. A dissolved corporation is not supposed to remain in the payment stream collecting taxpayer money as if nothing happened. Under federal law, false claims can trigger treble damages and steep per-claim penalties, and health care fraud can carry serious prison time. In plain English, Lansing is left with only a few possibilities: fraud, negligence, or a regulatory structure so broken it functionally invited both.

None of this was hidden. Grace Points and the twenty-one other dissolved corporations were operating in plain sight, across records any Michigan resident can pull on a laptop—corporate filings on LARA, provider records on NPPES, federal contracting records on SAM.gov, and the Michigan Medicaid claims data released by DOGE HHS. Put those systems side by side and the gap becomes obvious. A name can be dissolved in one database and still draw money in another. A signer can appear as Lisa on one record and Elizabeth on the next, and no alert connects the two. A shell can be retired, a parallel shell can take its place, and the billing never pauses.

That structural blind spot is what made this investigation possible. Combined with the LARA business registry, the Michigan claims data let us check more than six hundred entities one at a time. No subpoena. No audit staff. No white-collar crime unit. Just a laptop.

And we were working off old data. Michigan Democrats control the executive branch. They sit on top of the live Medicaid billing stream. They also administer the state Health and Human Services Department which is supposed to investigate Medicaid fraud. They could flag every claim being submitted today, every entity currently enrolled, every dollar moving right now—and could cross-check it against LARA in real time.

The investigations seem to have lagged.

If we found twenty-one dead corporations and $118.8 million in a stale snapshot, the live numbers are almost certainly worse.

We only looked at Michigan. The same structural gap exists in other states, across other service categories, under other billing codes. If this is what one corner of one Democrat-controlled program looks like, the national picture could be staggering.

Nobody has been charged. Nobody has been sued. Nobody has been ordered to give the money back.

As of this writing, every one of these businesses still holds an active National Provider Identifier. Michigan has not publicly revoked a single enrollment. The tools to catch this have existed all along—LARA on one side, the Medicaid system on the other. Matching one against the other is not rocket science.

So the question is whether anyone in Lansing will actually do something about it—or whether this investigation will sit on a desk the same way the dissolution records sat in a database, available to anyone who looked, ignored by everyone who should have.

Data sourced from Michigan Medicaid claims data released by DOGE HHS, calendar years 2018–2024; Michigan LARA MiBusiness Registry (authenticated, April 2026); CMS NPPES API; site visits and field reporting in Dearborn and Detroit, April 2026.

It's tricky territory. Given the perverse behavior displayed in daily headlines, such payment must be high enough to reward altruism, yet low enough not to tempt human traffickers and their ilk.

Non-health bills are in italics.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026     12:00 noon

AGENDA

HB 4696
Rep. Meerman
Children: guardians; definition of relative under the guardianship assistance act; modify.

HB 4697
Rep. Young
Children: guardians; eligibility for guardianship assistance payments; modify.

SB 934
Sen. Cherry
Mobile homes: other; mobile home commission act; revise.

SB 935
Sen. Bellino
Mobile homes: other; mobile home commission act; revise.

SB 936
Sen. Chang
Mobile homes: other; procedure for declaring a mobile home abandoned; provide for.

SB 937
Sen. Bayer
Mobile homes: other; mobile home commission act; revise.

SB 938
Sen. Hauck
Individual income tax: credit; credit for the sale of mobile home park or seasonal mobile home to residents or resident's association or cooperative; provide for.

SB 939
Sen. Outman
Housing: manufactured, modular, or mobile homes; authority to administer the resident ownership revolving fund created in the mobile home commission act; provide.

And any other business properly before the committee.

CMS announced the Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth (BALANCE) Model back in December and it is expected to launch during 2028.  The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge will serve as a bridge to the BALANCE Model in Medicare Part D.  BALANCE will take over this GLP-1 agonist drug program afterwards:

https://www.michiganpublic.org/2026-05-06/a-new-medicare-option-for-weight-loss-drugs-is-coming-heres-what-to-know

https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coverage/prescription-drug-coverage/medicare-glp-1-bridge

A new Medicare option for weight loss drugs is coming: Here's what to know
By Jackie Fortiér - May 6, 2026

Starting in July, Medicare beneficiaries may be able to get a GLP-1 prescription for weight loss for $50 a month. It's a notable shift for Medicare, which has long been barred from covering weight loss treatments.

The drugs, such as Wegovy and Zepbound, are effective but can be expensive without insurance coverage. They're available in injection or pill form. Even with discounts, current cash prices typically range from $149 to $699 per month.

About half of GLP-1 users say these drugs were difficult for them to afford, according to KFF polling. A quarter said they were "very difficult" to afford.

But the new Medicare benefit comes with caveats, particularly around clinical guidelines and what happens when the short-term program ends.

What is this program?

The initiative, announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, is a short-term pilot program known as the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge. It will run from July 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2027. It's meant to "bridge" the gap before a longer-term program that might — or might not — begin in 2028.

The pilot program will offer coverage for the following GLP-1 medications approved for weight loss: the pill and injectable formulations of Wegovy, the KwikPen formulation of Zepbound, and the Foundayo pill.

Who can participate?

To get access to these weight loss medications, you must be enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan, which covers prescription drugs. After that, eligibility is based mainly on body weight and health status. People will qualify if they have a body mass index of 27 or higher and have a condition such as heart disease or prediabetes, among others. People with BMIs of 35 or higher automatically qualify. About 40% of American adults are clinically obese, with a BMI of 30 or higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How the program works (it's a bit unusual)

This is not your typical Medicare benefit. Even though Part D enrollment is required, the Bridge program itself works differently.

Instead of going through your regular Part D plan, you will need prior authorization. Your doctor will send the prescription to a central system run by CMS contractor Humana, using a system already in place for another Medicare drug program. Doctors don't need to be enrolled as Medicare providers to write a prescription or submit a prior authorization request under this program. Once they get approval, patients will pay the flat $50 copayment at the pharmacy when they pick up the prescription.

What are the benefits?

The cost savings could make these drugs accessible to patients who simply couldn't afford them before. Even with discounts, the prices can be daunting without insurance coverage. TrumpRx, a new government website, provides links to direct-to-consumer prescription drug discounts for patients not using their health insurance.

On that site, Wegovy injectables range in price from $199 for a lower dosage for the first two months to $399 for a higher dosage. The KwikPen formulation of Zepbound costs up to $699 per month. At the highest dosages, the daily Wegovy pill costs up to $299 while Foundayo tops out at $349.

Most people who use these drugs will need a higher dose to maintain weight loss. The Bridge program is unique in that it offers a predictable $50 copayment that does not go up as dosages increase.

What are the downsides?

Like many pilot programs, there are trade-offs. The $50 copay will not count toward the Part D deductible, nor does it count toward the $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs. The pilot program will also end in December 2027. Most studies have shown that many people who stop using the GLP-1 drugs regain weight they lost while taking them.

It still may not feel affordable to people with low incomes

If you receive the low-income subsidy, also known as the Medicare Extra Help program, you cannot use that assistance for the drugs covered by the GLP-1 Bridge program. For beneficiaries accustomed to paying a $5 or $10 copay for their pharmaceuticals, a $50 copay could still be a big financial barrier.

"Fifty dollars a month sounds like a great deal compared to paying the discounted prices through TrumpRx and these other direct-to-consumer options, but it's a lot of money for somebody who's living on a $750-a-month Social Security check," said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

The $50 copay is only for weight loss

If you're already taking one of these medications for a qualifying condition such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease risk reduction, or sleep apnea, you'll continue to get it through your regular Part D plan. That means you'll pay your plan's price, which may be higher than the $50 Bridge copay, meaning the same drug could cost different amounts depending on the reason it is prescribed.

If you're already on a GLP-1 for weight loss, you may qualify for the Bridge program. Your prescriber will need to attest that you met the clinical criteria when you first started the medication. For example, if you started a GLP-1 in September 2024 with a BMI of 37 but in July 2026 you've lost weight and now have a BMI of 34, the prescriber should attest in the prior authorization request that you met the BMI criteria of 35 or over when the GLP-1 therapy started.

What happens after 2027?

The Trump administration had proposed a two-step approach to expand coverage of GLP-1s for obesity in Medicare. The Bridge program was initially planned to last six months — after that, the idea was to launch a longer-term program that would shift the cost of the drugs from the government to insurers. A recent study found the long-term program would have cost insurance companies billions of dollars in the first year. Not enough insurers signed on for the voluntary plan by the April deadline, so CMS instead announced it would extend the Bridge program to 18 months, with a new end date of December 2027.

The move will give insurance companies more data on how many people with Medicare get GLP-1 drugs for weight loss during the Bridge program and more time to negotiate with the Trump administration.

But extending the Bridge program will be "really expensive" for Medicare, Cubanski said, because the program heavily subsidizes the cost of the drugs.

"There's no sense right now of the cost of the Bridge model, but it is likely to be billions of dollars a year in additional spending for Medicare," Cubanski said.

The cost to Medicare will depend largely on how many people use the Bridge program. CMS has not provided any projections publicly, but a previous KFF analysis estimated that in 2020 close to 14 million Medicare beneficiaries were overweight or obese.

"This will just cost additional money, and we don't know how much, because they haven't disclosed it," Cubanski said.

MDHHS line-items begin pg. 326. It has full-time equivalent employees down 691 from last year, approximately 1600 or 10% down from just a few years ago. 

Significantly, this appropriation bill divides MDHHS spending by sub-department for closer accountability.

• human services                                $  6.6 Bn         9,855.8 FTE
• Medicaid & behavioral health             $22.9 Bn         3,832.3 FTE
• public health                                    $  1.1 Bn           735.4 FTE

The Midwesterner captures the big picture.

https://www.themidwesterner.news/2026/04/make-the-government-smaller-again-house-republicans-approve-budget-123-billion-less-than-whitmer-proposal/

‘Make the government smaller again’: House Republicans approve budget $12.3 BILLION LESS than Whitmer proposal

Speaker Hall: 'We don't need to raise taxes, we don't need to raid the rainy day fund'

Travers Koory    |    April 23, 2026

Michigan House Republicans advanced a $75.8 billion state budget Wednesday night that aims to “make the government smaller again” by emphasizing fiscal discipline and core services.

Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Twp., chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the spending plan “puts Michigan families first,” with overall spending reductions and a renewed commitment to efficiency after years of what Republicans call chronic over-budgeting under Democratic leadership.

House Bill 5619 reduces overall spending by $106 million and cuts nearly $600 million from the state’s general fund. It also avoids any new tax increases or withdrawals from the rainy day fund.

“Right now, families are stretching every dollar just to keep up,” Bollin said in a statement. “They expect their government to be just as careful with their money.”

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., noted the Republican budget saves billions by cutting vacant but funded positions across government, and aligning allocations with actual spending in recent years.

“We were able to cut $2 billion from this budget, by not cutting anything,” Hall said during a press conference after the vote. “You’re not cutting anything except for the ghost employees and the money they’re not spending.”

House Republicans have made eliminating so-called “ghost employees” a top priority, with the removal of roughly 3,300 vacant positions in the current proposal building on roughly 2,000 eliminated in the current budget. Republicans contend nearly half of budget line items have been routinely overfunded, creating close to $2 billion in excess that they’re redirecting to other spending.

“We’re putting an end to that practice by grounding this budget in reality,” Bollin said. It is $12.3 billion less than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s $88.1 billion proposal.

The changes align with Speaker Hall’s long-standing push to streamline government operations and cut waste, fraud, and slush funds without harming essential services.

“If you do that, you cut the ghost employees, you cut a lot of the waste, you cut the slush funds,” Hall said.

Despite the reductions, the budget includes targeted investments in key areas important to Michigan families, including roads, support for local governments, and record investments in education.

“We were able to make some real key investments in this budget, including $100 million into roads,” Hall said. “We invested $65 million more into our local governments … the highest per-pupil funding, $250 increase for our kids to $10,300. We’re going to provide universal free breakfast and lunch to all of the kids.”

Other spending in the proposal includes a $1.2 billion increase for Medicaid to cover rising caseloads, as well as new anti-fraud measures and investigator positions. The plan directs $10 million more to the Public Safety Trust Fund and includes support for workforce development and rural programs.

Republicans stressed that the approach strengthens the state’s financial position, including a $300 million deposit into the rainy day fund, without increasing taxes on Michiganders.

“We don’t need to raise taxes,” Hall said. “We don’t need to raid the rainy day fund.”

The budget also cuts funding to the University of Michigan and Michigan State University due to their involvement with Rx Kids and giving benefits to illegal aliens.

“Michigan State University is administering a program that is handing out welfare to illegal aliens, and that’s unacceptable, and that’s one of the reasons why we cut Michigan State in our budget by 62% of state funding,” Hall said. “We don’t want Michigan State University to continue to give welfare to illegal aliens.”

During the press conference Hall tied this year’s budget to last year’s Republican victories, pointing to an intentional $800 million shortfall created by policies no tax on tips and a roads deal negotiated by lawmakers. The FY 2026-27 House budget covers that shortfall by calibrating spending based on real dollars rather than inflated projections, Hall said.

“This year, as we’re going into budget, I just want to remind you that we made this budget right,” Hall said. “We planned this when we did no tax on tips … and we did the roads deal. In doing that, we created the $800 million shortfall on purpose.

“What we propose, and what we showed you can do today is you can do it solely by taking the real dollars spent,” he said.

Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, spoke to reporters on the House floor, criticizing the new budget and questioning its direction. “There’s no strategy here today,” he said. “It’s something I think we ought to be really concerned and focused on.”

The Republican budget, House Bill 5619, ultimately cleared the lower chamber on a vote of 56-51.

Republican Reps. Steve Carra and Jim DeSana voted against the measure, along with Democratic Reps. Joey Andrews, Noah Arbit, Kelly Breen, Julie Brixie, Erin Byrnes, Brenda Carter, Tyrone Carter, Betsy Coffia, Jennifer Conlin, Emily Dievendorf, Kimberly Edwards, Alabas Farhat, John Fitzgerald, Morgan Foreman, Carol Glanville, Peter Herzberg, Kara Hope, Jason Hoskins, Matt Koleszar, Tullio Liberati, Matt Longjohn, Sharon MacDonell, Jasper Martus, Mike McFall, Donavan McKinney, Denise Mentzer, Reggie Miller, Jason Morgan, Tonya Myers Phillips, Cynthia Neeley, Amos O’Neal, Veronica Paiz, Laurie Pohutsky, Natalie Price, Ranjeev Puri, Carrie Rheingans, Julie Rogers, Helena Scott, Phil Skaggs, Will Snyder, Samantha Steckloff, Joe Tate, Penelope Tsernoglou, Dylan Wegela, Regina Wiess, Angela Witwer, Stephan Wooden, Mai Xiong, and Stephanie Young.

The legislation now moves to a Senate controlled by Democrats, who are expected to approve their own budget in the coming weeks before legislative leaders hash out a final product.

These glittering accolades come from the new EWA industry, so color me skeptical - especially regarding the "free" claim. (One mentions ATM-style fees.)

No one claims it increases wages, though that is implied. In reality, it merely gives early access to them. To my mind, the time and expense of implementing this financial switcheroo might have better effect if directed to a simple wage increase.

This week's enormous agenda sports 24 bills, 13 of which impact healthcare. Twelve constitute the package for earned wage access. The remaining one requires transparency for state reports via website. 

I've italicized bills without healthcare impact. As always, I'd love to know more. Please comment if you have information to add, especially perspective from these service industries.

Thursday, April 30, 2026    9:00 AM

AGENDA

HB 5535 (Rep. Alexander)
Occupations: plumbers; providing plumbing services while serving as local inspector; allow.

HB 5551 (Rep. Tisdel)
Occupations: plumbers; requirements for backflow prevention testing; modify.

HB 5558 (Rep. Bierlein)
Businesses: other; regulation and licensing of earned wage access service providers; provide for.

HB 5559 (Rep. Bierlein)
Financial institutions: money transmitters; money transmission services act; provide for exemption for certain earned wage access services.

HB 5560 (Rep. Bierlein)
Labor: hours and wages; regulation of wages and fringe benefits; provide for exemption for certain earned wage access services.

HB 5561 (Rep. Liberati)
Consumer credit: collection practices; regulation of collection agencies in the occupational code; provide for exemption for certain earned wage access services.

HB 5562 (Rep. Liberati)
Financial institutions: other; definition of financial licensing acts in the consumer financial services act; modify to include the earned wage access services act.

HB 5563 (Rep. Liberati)
Consumer credit: collection practices; regulation of collection practices; provide for exemption for certain earned wage access services.

HB 5564 (Rep. Martin)
Civil procedure: other; regulation and licensing of earned wage access service providers; provide for.

HB 5565 (Rep. Martin)
Financial institutions: other; deferred presentment service transactions act; provide for exemption for certain earned wage access services.

HB 5566 (Rep. Alexander)
Financial institutions: generally; credit reform act; amend to exempt earned wage access services.

HB 5567 (Rep. Alexander)
Financial institutions: generally; regulatory loan act; amend to exempt earned wage access services.

HB 5568 (Rep. Herzberg)
Financial institutions: generally; 1966 PA 326; amend to exempt earned wage access services.

HB 5569 (Rep. Herzberg)
Financial institutions: generally; criminal usury; amend to exempt earned wage access services.

HB 5755 (Rep. Aragona)
Legislature: reports; reports that state agencies provide to the legislature; require the department of technology, management, and budget to publish on a website.

HB 5832 (Rep. Hoadley)
Gaming: other; authority to obtain criminal history records and fingerprints; provide for.

HB 5833 (Rep. Liberati)
Gaming: other; authority to obtain criminal history records and fingerprints; provide for.

HB 5834 (Rep. Aragona)
Gaming: other; authority to obtain criminal history records and fingerprints; provide for.

HB 5805 (Rep. Aragona)
Housing: housing development authority; housing opportunity tax credit program; establish and administer.

HB 5806 (Rep. Grant)
Individual income tax: credit; housing opportunity tax credits; create.

HB 5807 (Rep. Aragona)
Insurance: other; housing opportunity credits against the retaliatory tax; provide for.

HB 5356 (Rep. Schuette)
Vehicles: title; requirements for transfer of title by a dealer; provide for.

HB 5045 (Rep. BeGole)
Housing: other; redemption of premises; modify.

HB 5046 (Rep. O'Neal)
Civil procedure: foreclosure; recording of deed; modify.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

https://governor.nebraska.gov/gov-pillen-dr-oz-announce-nebraska-first-nation-pursue-medicaid-work-requirements

Gov. Pillen, Dr. Oz Announce Nebraska is First in the Nation to Pursue Medicaid Work Requirements
December 17, 2025
Press Release
Laura Strimple
Jeff Powell

Gov. Pillen, Dr. Oz Announce Nebraska is First in the Nation to Pursue Medicaid Work Requirements

LINCOLN, NE – Governor Jim Pillen was joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) CEO Steve Corsi in announcing that Nebraska is the first state in the nation to pursue work requirements for Medicaid expansion members. At the news conference today, Gov. Pillen signed a letter to CMS, detailing Nebraska’s intent to implement requirements by May 1, 2026.

The new work requirements are the result of HR1, the One Big Beautiful Bill. Among its key provisions is a requirement that able-bodied adults in the Medicaid expansion population engage in work or other qualifying activities as a condition of receiving Medicaid benefits.

Governor Pillen praised the Trump administration for passage of the OBBB and emphasized that the policy will promote long-term independence and stronger community ties.

“These requirements will help Nebraskans achieve greater self-sufficiency through employment and other meaningful activities,” said Governor Pillen. “Working not only provides purpose but helps people become active, productive members of their communities. Nebraska will be ready to move forward with these requirements prior to the federally mandated start of Jan. 1, 2027.”

Under the new rules, able-bodied adults ages 19–64 in the Medicaid expansion population will be required to participate in work, approved work programs, community service, or educational activities for at least 80 hours per month, unless they qualify for an exemption.

“Across the nation, our goal is to support people engaged in meaningful work, involved in their communities, and connected to the support that sets them up for long-term success,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Nebraska is leading the way as the first state to launch its community engagement requirements, and we congratulate Governor Pillen and his team for their commitment to helping more Nebraskans move toward greater independence and opportunity. CMS will be working together with Nebraska and its 50 counterparts to ensure every program is implemented smoothly, responsibly, and in compliance with federal law.”

This reform will deliver meaningful benefits to Nebraskans. Work requirements are associated with higher and more stable incomes, greater success in securing better-paying employment, and access to benefits that extend beyond what government assistance alone can provide.

Most importantly, children in working households benefit from more stable routines, improved educational outcomes, and stronger examples of workforce participation. Higher employment rates are also linked to lower crime rates, increased civic engagement, and a stronger economy.

DHHS CEO Steve Corsi said not only will these changes help more Nebraskans move toward economic stability, it will also help Nebraska’s businesses and economy.

“Employment provides financial stability, fosters personal growth, and will help Nebraska’s small businesses in need of workers,” said Corsi. “These new requirements move Nebraska forward by encouraging greater economic and social participation.”

Current Nebraska Medicaid members will be assessed for the new requirements during their regularly scheduled renewal after the implementation date. Individuals applying for Medicaid on or after May 1, 2026, will need to provide verification of their community engagement activities or qualifying exemption.

Of particular note:

• The rule changes apply to able-bodied adults ages 19-64 in the Medicaid expansion population.
• Medicaid expansion includes individuals 19-64 with low incomes who receive health coverage through Nebraska Medicaid.
• Eligibility is based on income up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (in 2025 for a single person was $21,610, or for a family of four was $44,380).
• Work requirement activities are requirements that Medicaid expansion members and applicants must meet in order to receive coverage through Nebraska Medicaid.
• Qualifying work requirement activities include employment, attendance at school, participation in an apprenticeship, participation in an approved work program, or volunteering.

• People who are disabled
• People who are currently in foster care
• People through age 25 who aged out of foster care
• Members of recognized Native American tribes
• Pregnant women
• Parents or guardians of children up to age 13
• Caregiver of an individual with disabilities
• Disabled veterans (with a ‘total’ disability status)
• People who are medically frail
• People compliant with work requirements under the SNAP or TANF programs
• People receiving treatment for a substance use disorder
• People who are incarcerated or have been within the last 90 days
• People who qualify for Medicare Part A or Part B

The case is entitled FTC v.
NNOVATIVE PARTNERS, LP, d/b/a
INNOVATIVE HEALTH PLAN or
HEALTHCARE PLAN; AMERICAN
COLLECTIVE, LP, d/b/a
ACLP HEALTH PLAN; HEALTH PLAN
ADMINISTRATORS, LLC; PAPYRUS
GREEN INVESTMENTS LLC; AHMED
IBRAHIM SHOKRY; AMERICAN
COLLECTIVE, LP; PAPYRUS
GREEN INVESTMENTS LLC; and
AMANI IBRAHIM SHOKRY; Defendants.

Telemarketers like these are hated for good reason.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/04/ftc-sues-stop-deceptive-health-care-scheme

FTC Sues to Stop Deceptive Health Care Scheme

FTC alleges scheme has generated millions of dollars by deceiving consumers seeking comprehensive health plans or those who already have coverage

April 22, 2026

At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a U.S. district court in Florida has temporarily halted a nationwide operation that allegedly impersonates the government and large insurance carriers to deceive consumers seeking health insurance into buying supposedly comprehensive PPO plans that do not offer the coverage they seek.

According to the Commission’s complaint, the scheme—which operates under several names including Innovative Partners and American Collective—also targets already-insured consumers by claiming they need to pay to maintain or renew coverage. The FTC alleges that consumers paid the defendants millions in “premiums” for products they did not want or need, and which expose them to potentially significant and unexpected medical costs.

This action follows FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson’s creation of a Healthcare Task Force in March, as well as the FTC’s prior enforcement efforts against related healthcare schemes.

“Targeting unlawful conduct that drives up Americans’ costs, especially healthcare costs, is one of my top priorities,” said Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “The Healthcare Task Force launched last month underscores my commitment to bringing the full strength of the agency to bear on the challenges facing American patients, providers, and communities. The Commission’s work here is essential: When companies engage in practices that inflate prices, limit patient access to medical care, or undermine the integrity of the healthcare system, consumers suffer. Under my leadership, the Commission will continue to pursue fraudsters who deceive or disadvantage people seeking medical treatment, and we will do so with every enforcement tool at my disposal.”

The FTC alleges that since at least early 2023, the six defendants named in the complaint have jointly operated a fraudulent telemarketing scheme that takes advantage of consumers seeking comprehensive health insurance coverage. In making their pitch, the defendants often falsely tell consumers they are buying “state issued” PPO insurance policies that have no deductible and provide full coverage with low or no co-payments, according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges that when dealing with consumers who already have health insurance, the company’s telemarketers deceptively tell them they are calling from real insurance carriers or the government, and that without immediate payment their policies will be canceled.

The products the defendants sell are not PPO plans or comprehensive health insurance policies, and they cannot be sold on any state or federal government health insurance marketplace, according to the complaint. Instead, the defendants’ plans typically include an assortment of medical discounts, ancillary products, and capped payouts for certain medical events such as emergency room visits—while some plans exclude hospital care entirely.

While at least one defendant has claimed they do not market or sell insurance, the defendants lead consumers to believe the products they offer—which can cost hundreds of dollars a month and thousands of dollars a year—will provide comprehensive coverage, according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges that when consumers who enroll in the defendants’ supposed PPO policies attempt to use them, they discover that the products do not provide the comprehensive coverage they were promised. As a result, some are forced to postpone care until they can get insurance coverage, while others are faced with substantial medical debt. When frustrated consumers try to cancel their purchase of the products, the defendants often ignore them and the monthly payments continue.

In addition, the complaint alleges that the defendants:

• unfairly charge consumers without their express, informed consent and fail to disclose material terms and conditions of their negative option feature, specifically the steps consumers must take to cancel the monthly recurring payments;
• make misrepresentations while telemarketing and fail to disclose material information in telemarketing before the consumer consents to pay for the goods or services provided;
• engage in unlawful telemarketing acts and practices by charging consumers for products or services for which they have not provided their express, informed consent;
• deceptively pose as businesses and government officials or misrepresent their affiliation with, or endorsement or sponsorship by, a government entity; and
• use false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations to obtain customer information of a financial institution, such as credit or debit card numbers.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Impersonation Rule, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and seeks refunds for affected consumers. The court entered a temporary restraining order against the defendants based on their alleged law violations.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint against the six defendants was 2-0. The complaint was filed under seal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the seal has now been lifted.

The defendants include Innovative Partners, LP, which does business as Innovative Health Plan or Healthcare Plan, and its Chief Technology Officer Amani Ibrahim Shokry; American Collective, LP, which does business as ACLP Health Plan; Papyrus Green Investments LLC; and their owner Ahmed Ibrihim Shokry, as well as Health Plan Administrators, LLC.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.

Staff attorneys on this matter are Matthew Schiltz, William Hodor, and D’Laney Gielow of the FTC’s Midwest Region.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.

Indiana faced this tough question head-on, and Beckers Health reports the state is showing the incredible power of intelligent, free market health policy.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/hospitals-are-stepping-up-direct-contracting-gains-traction-in-indiana/

‘Hospitals are stepping up’: Direct contracting gains traction in Indiana

Alan Condon    |     April 23rd, 2026

Indiana’s first review of direct-to-employer healthcare arrangements found that all participating hospitals met the state’s pricing benchmark, and advocates say the results signal a broader shift in how employers and health systems are structuring their relationships.

The Indiana Department of Health on April 22 published the inaugural Direct-to-Employer Healthcare Arrangement Plan Review for 2025, finding that every submitted plan came in at or below the statutory threshold of 260% of Medicare rates. The review was mandated under state law requiring nonprofit hospitals to demonstrate their employer-direct plans remain within that ceiling.

Participating systems included:

Ascension St. Vincent (Indianapolis)
Community Health Network (Indianapolis)
Franciscan Health (Mishawaka)
Indiana University Health (Indianapolis)
Parkview Health (Fort Wayne)

Many priced well below the statutory cap, offering employers greater predictability in year-over-year healthcare spending, according to the report.

“This year’s review demonstrates that Indiana hospitals are stepping up to provide employers with affordable, predictable healthcare options,” Indiana Health and Human Services Secretary Gloria Sachdev said in the release. “Direct-to-employer contracts are an important tool for controlling costs while maintaining access to high-quality care.”

The Indiana Hospital Association also welcomed the findings, framing direct contracting as a market-based solution to the growing friction between employers, insurers and providers.

“By working more directly with hospitals or targeted networks to cut out unnecessary middlemen, employers can improve health outcomes of their employees, reduce administrative complexity and create more predictable healthcare spending,” Scott Tittle, the association’s president, said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “As the state’s review shows, hospitals are more than delivering on competitive, transparent pricing that aligns with employers’ needs.”

Ascension St. Vincent CEO Don King pointed to the health system’s employer solutions program — established in 2009 and now serving more than 75 businesses, 125 public schools and over 300 public safety agencies — as evidence that direct contracting at scale is already well underway.

“Through direct employer arrangements, we partner with organizations across Indiana — from small employers to large corporations, schools, public safety agencies and local governments — to improve affordability and deliver high-value care,” Mr. King said.

Indiana’s report lands amid growing national momentum around direct contracting, driven in part by employer frustration with traditional insurance models and high-profile efforts to bring transparency to hospital pricing.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban has been among the most vocal advocates for the model.

At the Becker’s Spring Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit in Chicago on April 15, Mr. Cuban said the largest commercial payer relationships may actually be the least profitable for hospitals once administrative costs, denials, late payments and clawbacks are fully accounted for.

“If you literally did a cost analysis and a profitability analysis by insurance carrier, the biggest ones are where you’re going to be losing the most money,” he said.

His direct contracting platform, Cost Plus Wellness, connects self-insured employers with providers through publicly posted contracts, with no prior authorization requirements, no balance billing and a mandatory 30-day payment window.

Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health was the first major health system to sign on.

Cost Plus Wellness currently lists 27 published contracts covering at least 9,200 providers and 193 facilities, predominantly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with more being added, according to Mr. Cuban.

His pitch to health system leaders is straightforward: Start with the employers whose workers you already see.

“Go and sit down with them and say, ‘let’s talk about all these patient experiences and what you paid for them, because I can save you money,'” he said. “Because you know what you both have in common? You don’t like insurance companies.”