House Cmte - Insurance & Financial Services - Michigan Healthcare Freedom Forum

House Ins Cmte Jan 21 2026: DIFS presentation on Milliman Report re Auto No-fault reform results

Abigail Nobel — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:20:34 +0000

The 110-page Milliman Report disputes State of Michigan claims that auto insurance prices have dropped and numbers of insured have risen.

The House has the researchers on deck to hear more tomorrow.

Further reports below.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 12:00 PM

AGENDA

Presentation from the Department of Insurance and Financial Services on the Milliman Report on the Impact of Auto Insurance Reform

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

House Insurance Cmte - Prenatal coverage, Dental benefit payment methods

Abigail Nobel — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 05:06:53 +0000

Previous prenatal bills were heard two years ago.

https://mihealthfreedom.org/community/house-hpol/nov-2-prenatal-to-grave-mi-bills-micromanaging-healthcare/

The first agenda was revised to delete HB 4726.

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4726 (Rep. Bierlein)
Health facilities: county medical care facilities; maintenance of effort reimbursement; extend sunset.

HB 4860 (Rep. Harris)
Insurance: health insurers; methods of payments and reimbursements for dental benefits; provide for.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4860 (Rep. Harris)
Insurance: health insurers; methods of payments and reimbursements for dental benefits; provide for.

HB 4666 (Rep. Brenda Carter)
Insurance: life; reference to "colored" persons; eliminate.

HB 4703 (Rep. Wortz)
Insurance: health insurers; coverage for group prenatal care services; require.

HB 4704 (Rep. Wortz)
Human services: medical services; coverage for group prenatal care services; require.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4703 (Rep. Wortz)
Insurance: health insurers; coverage for group prenatal care services; require.

HB 4704 (Rep. Wortz)
Human services: medical services; coverage for group prenatal care services; require.

HB 4726 (Rep. Bierlein)
Health facilities: county medical care facilities; maintenance of effort reimbursement; extend sunset.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

2025 Session Aug 20 House Committee on Insurance: Fraud bills 4713-4719

Abigail Nobel — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 18:49:06 +0000

This committee has new members and a slightly revised name for 2025. Eventually, I'll get into the back and edit that.

For now, I'll put the cumulative 2025 hearing videos below.

They're back in session, so here's this week's agenda penalizing insurance fraud.

House Committee on Insurance, Rep. Mike Harris, Chair

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4713 (Rep. Robinson)
Insurance: health insurers; definition of health care insurer; include automobile insurers providing personal injury protection coverage.

HB 4714 (Rep. Harris)
Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for fraudulent insurance acts; provide for.

HB 4715 (Rep. Brenda Carter)
Insurance: other; sharing of information concerning suspected or completed insurance fraud; allow.

HB 4716 (Rep. McFall)
Insurance: other; penalties for fraudulent insurance acts; increase.

HB 4717 (Rep. Lightner)
Crimes: definitions; definition of racketeering; include insurance fraud.

HB 4718 (Rep. Tate)
Insurance: other; requirement to file a fraud report; provide for.

HB 4719 (Rep. Aragona)
Insurance: other; civil penalties for violations; allow.

Presentation from the National Insurance Crime Bureau

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Insurance | 9 Videos

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Michigan Senate passes bills modifying no-fault auto insurance overhaul

Abigail Nobel — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 02:30:31 +0000

Because this package seems certain to come up for House Insurance Committee vote this term, I wanted to post a good summary of the issues.

The Daily Telegram fits that description.

However, one aspect is left unexplored. More below.

Michigan Senate passes bills modifying no-fault auto insurance overhaul

Clara Hendrickson | October 21, 2023

The Michigan Legislature held its first vote Thursday on legislation to modify the state's 2019 no-fault auto insurance overhaul that aimed to lower costs for drivers but led some medical providers to close their doors to car crash victims.

Lawmakers in the state Senate passed legislation to increase reimbursement rates for medical providers treating car crash victims in Michigan.

It takes courage for lawmakers to revisit laws that need improving, said Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids. State Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, who sponsored the primary bill in the package has characterized her effort as a way to fix what she calls the unintended consequences of Michigan's 2019 no-fault auto insurance changes. That overhaul imposed a 45% payment cut to providers of services frequently used by catastrophic accident survivors. Providers have characterized the change as devastating for their businesses and the patients they serve. However, earlier this summer, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the cuts don't apply to those injured in car crashes before June 2019, when the no-fault overhaul was signed into law.

The legislation passed 23-14 Thursday. Four GOP lawmakers joined most Democrats to support the bills: state Sens. Jon Bumstead, of North Muskegon, John Damoose, of Harbor Springs, Ruth Johnson, of Holly, and Rick Outman, of Six Lakes. State Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, was the lone Democrat to vote against the package. State Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, abstained from voting.

Sen. Joe Bellino, R-Monroe, who represents most of Monroe, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties, voted against the legislation, as did Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R-Allen, who represents the western-most townships in Hillsdale County. Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, voted for the bills. He represents northeastern Lenawee County and the city of Milan as well as a large part of Washtenaw County.

One lawmaker described changes as overdue and conceded that they might arrive too late for some. "Even if we fix this today, some of the damage is permanent and cannot be undone," said state Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, in a speech in which he recounted the providers shuttered in the wake of the 2019 auto insurance overhaul.

Cavanagh said Michigan lawmakers can address the state's "crisis of care" without impacting the cost-saving features of the current law. But other Republican lawmakers worried about the bills' impact on insurance costs for drivers. State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, blasted the bill package, calling it a "pile of junk." In heated remarks, he said his constituents sent him to Lansing with one demand on car insurance: lower costs. "It's ridiculously expensive in this state. Insanely expensive in this state," he yelled.

Together, Senate Bills 530, 531 and 575 would raise the reimbursement rates for providers who treat those in more recent auto accidents. Lawmakers amended the legislation, which originally proposed a 250% reimbursement rate of whatever Medicare pays to medical providers. It now no longer includes an across-the-board rate increase for providers. Instead, it preserves a tiered system with smaller rate reimbursement increases for different types of providers.

The head of the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) came out against the bill package, predicting it would raise insurance costs.

"Simply put, the broad-brush reimbursement rate increases proposed in these bills would substantially impact auto insurance affordability across the state," department director Anita Fox wrote in a letter to lawmakers Wednesday. While Fox submitted that written testimony before lawmakers made changes to the legislation, the revisions did not sway the department to support the bills, according to a spokesperson.

"Now I don't say this often but I agree with the Whitmer administration," said Minority Senate Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township.

State Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, pointed to DIFS's concerns in a floor speech ahead of the vote Thursday and expressed concerns that the legislation would increase the share of Michigan drivers without insurance traveling on the state's roads. Lawmakers rejected an amendment from Theis that would have ensured that none of the changes in the legislation would take effect if DIFS found that insurance costs would go up.

State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, said that the 2019 auto insurance overhaul did not deliver the promised rate relief for drivers and countered that Theis' amendment wouldn't either. "The heart of the bill is to restore access to health care," he said.

Groups advocating for catastrophic crash survivors who heralded the summer state Supreme Court decision now want lawmakers to send the legislation changing reimbursement rates to Whitmer's desk.

State Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, said she does not want lawmakers to go another year hearing the same demands from families of survivors of catastrophic car crashes who have lined the halls of Lansing demanding changes.

The legislation passed by the state Senate on Thursday will next head to the state House for consideration.

https://www.lenconnect.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/10/21/michigan-lawmakers-vote-on-auto-insurance-bills/71252435007/

As the article notes, longterm care crash victims, families, and homecare agencies unite in saying that reduced pay is unacceptable. Caregiver supply is drying up. Agencies are going out of business.

Why?

Certainly, auto insurance created a two-tier reimbursement system. I remember being on call for OR and hearing other services being called in as "car crash" specifically. We were all about saving lives, but double reimbursement gets a special response.

Still, auto insurance reimburses homecare no lower than Medicaid does. Disabled Medicaid patients are going on the same as ever, short staffing, low pay, and all.

Did certain homecare agencies (and caregivers) become dependent on elevated rates for a share of their clientele? So dependent, that without these rates, they can't survive?

If so, what does that say about state Medicaid reimbursement rates?

This side of auto no-fault reform demands answers in the era of fat Michigan budgets.

HB 4707 Insurance mandate: her depression gets covered like your broken leg

Abigail Nobel — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 04:50:15 +0000

Pre-ACA, Michigan had about 35 insurance mandates. At an additional 4% cost per mandate, mandates were a major reason many were shut out of the private coverage market.

Fast forward to 2023. The mother of all mandates, HB 4707 wedges mental health parity into Michigan's insurance code. Never mind patients in 2023 face record numbers of denials - what are a few more?!

What's the strategy here - break the insurance companies to make Michigan's single-payer bills look like a bargain?

Or perhaps this Legislature wants to be remembered for the attitude, "Forget patient health consequences, let them use pixie dust."

Bill-reading tip: numbered lines start with "1" on each page for easy reference.

Beginning on page 13:

27 Sec. 3425. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this
28 subsection, an insurer that delivers, issues for delivery, or
29 renews in this state a health insurance policy shall provide

14
1 coverage for intermediate and outpatient care for substance use
2 disorder. medically necessary treatment of a mental health or
3 substance use disorder. This section does not apply to limited
4 classification policies.
5 (2) An insurer shall cover the full continuum of service
6 intensities and levels of care that are described in the most
7 recent versions of the following:
8 (a) The ASAM Criteria by the American Society of Addiction
9 Medicine.
10 (b) The Level of Care Utilization System by the American
11 Association of Community Psychiatrists.
12 (c) The Child and Adolescent Level of Care/Service Intensity
13 Utilization System by the American Association for Community
14 Psychiatry and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
15 Psychiatry.
16 (d) Early Child Service Intensity Instrument by the American
17 Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Then on page 15 we go down the deep dark hole of government managing insurance. In turn, insurance since the 1990s has managed care instead of simply covering it.

With all the watchers watching watchers, you'd think healthcare were a crime syndicate instead of people in the business of saving lives. But I digress.

Back to managed care:
It's constant and it interferes with care, sucking up vast amounts of clinician time advocating for patient coverage and filling out forms. Whether or not insurance employees are medically qualified, and regardless of their lack of contact with the patient - they hold the whip hand, because they hold the money.

It's an upside-down world. Is it any wonder clinicians are fleeing hospitals?

This is what managed care looks like when it's framed in law:

1 (5) In conducting utilization review of all covered health
2 care services and benefits for the diagnosis, prevention, and
3 treatment of mental health and substance use disorders in children,
4 adolescents, and adults, an insurer, and any entity acting on the
5 insurer's behalf, shall do all of the following:
6 (a) Make all medical necessity determinations consistent with
7 current generally accepted standards of mental health and substance
8 use disorder care.
9 (b) Apply exclusively the level of care placement criteria and
10 practice guidelines set forth in the most recent versions of
11 utilization review criteria and practice guidelines developed by
12 the nonprofit professional association for the relevant clinical
13 specialty within the scope of the criteria. Criteria and guidelines
14 outside the scope of the nonprofit professional association
15 criteria, including criteria described in section 2212e, may be
16 used if the criteria are fully consistent with current generally
17 accepted standards of mental health and substance use disorder
18 care.
19 (c) Not limit benefits or coverage for chronic or pervasive
20 mental health and substance use disorders to short-term or acute
21 treatment at any level of care placement.
22 (6) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (5), a prior
23 authorization determination for mental health and substance abuse
24 disorder services must be conducted under section 2212e.
25 (7) For all level of care placement decisions, the insurer
26 shall authorize placement at the level of care consistent with the
27 insured's assessment using the relevant nonprofit professional
28 association level of care placement criteria and guidelines under
29 subsection (5)(b). If that level of placement is not available, the

16
1 insurer shall authorize the next higher level of care. If there is
2 a disagreement between the insured's provider and the insurer, the
3 insurer shall provide full detail of its scoring using the relevant
4 level of care placement criteria and guidelines to the insured and
5 the insured's provider.
6 (8) If services for the medically necessary treatment of a
7 mental health or substance use disorder are not available in
8 network within the geographic and timeliness access standards under
9 law, the insurer shall arrange coverage to ensure the delivery of
10 medically necessary out-of-network services and any medically
11 necessary follow-up services that, to the maximum extent possible,
12 meet those geographic and timely access standards. The insured
13 shall pay not more in total for benefits rendered than the cost
14 sharing that the insured would pay for the same covered services
15 received from an in-network provider.
16 (9) For an adverse determination regarding a mental health or
17 substance use disorder service, including an adverse determination
18 regarding a prior authorization under section 2212e, the reviewer
19 must have the appropriate training and relevant experience in the
20 clinical specialty involved in the coverage determination. As used
21 in this subsection, "adverse determination" means that term as
22 defined in section 2213.
23 (10) An insurer shall cover mental health and substance use
24 disorder emergency services not more restrictively and using the
25 same coverage standards as for other emergency services, including,
26 but not limited to, utilizing the prudent layperson standard and
27 not applying prior authorization. The insured shall pay not more
28 than the in-network cost sharing amount regardless of provider
29 participation status.

17
1 (11) An insurer shall not limit benefits or coverage for
2 medically necessary services on the basis that those services
3 should be or could be covered by a public program, including, but
4 not limited to, special education or an individualized education
5 program, Medicaid, Medicare, Supplemental Security Income, or
6 Social Security Disability Insurance, and shall not include or
7 enforce a contract term that excludes otherwise covered benefits on
8 the basis that those services should be or could be covered by a
9 public program. As used in this subsection:
10 (a) "Medicaid" means a program for medical assistance
11 established under subchapter XIX of the social security act, 42 USC
12 1396 to 1396w-6.
13 (b) "Medicare" means the federal Medicare program established
14 under title XVIII of the social security act, 42 USC 1395 to 1395lll.
15 (c) "Social Security Disability Insurance" means disability
16 insurance under 42 USC 423 to 425.
17 (d) "Supplemental Security Income" means the program
18 authorized under title XVI of the social security act, 42 USC 1381
19 to 1383f.
20 (12) An insurer that authorizes a specific type of treatment
21 by a provider under this section shall not rescind or modify the
22 authorization after the provider renders the health care service in
23 good faith and under this authorization for any reason, including,
24 but not limited to, the insurer's subsequent rescission,
25 cancellation, or modification of the insured's or policyholder's
26 contract, or the insurer's subsequent determination that it did not
27 make an accurate determination of the insured's or policyholder's
28 eligibility.
....
7 (15) By March 1, 2024, and each March 1 after that date, an
8 insurer that delivers, issues for delivery, or renews in this state
9 a health insurance policy ...
....
the director shall
22 assess a civil penalty of $10,000.00 for each violation. The civil
23 penalties available to the director under this section are not
24 exclusive and may be sought and employed in combination with any
25 other remedies available to the director under this act.

And so on.

At this rate, Michigan's obsession with controlling care at the bedside will finish killing off healthcare sooner rather than later.

PS. One curious thing. Why would Section 14 (pg 18) not apply to contractors?

"This section does not apply to any entity or contracting provider that performs utilization review or utilization management functions on an insurer's behalf."

https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2023-2024/billintroduced/House/pdf/2023-HIB-4707.pdf

Single Payer? MI Care Act HB 4893

Abigail Nobel — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 05:01:40 +0000

A long bill, but not difficult to read and understand. Michigan is proposing to go into the insurance business, as well as producing pixie dust.

Parts of the bill are simply hilarious - pure pie in the sky. Just speculating here, but maybe these provisions are there only for campaign purposes??

For example, paragraph 8 blithely eliminates healthcare shortages, at least on paper; paragraph 9 turns doctor's offices into insurance agents (they don't have enough to do?); and par. 11 imagines the State of Michigan will run insurance so well we need to monitor the hordes of people who flock here to sign up.

(8) MIcare must maintain a robust and adequate network of health care professionals located in this state or regularly serving residents of this state, including mental health and substance abuse professionals. The department shall contract with outside entities as needed to allow for the appropriate portability of coverage under MIcare for residents of this state who are temporarily out of this state.

(9) The department shall make available the necessary information, forms, access to eligibility or enrollment systems, and billing procedures to health care professionals to ensure immediate enrollment for individuals in MIcare at the point of service or treatment....

(11) The department, in collaboration with other relevant departments, shall monitor the extent to which residents of other states move to this state for the purpose of receiving health services and the impact, positive or negative, of any such migration on this state's health care system and on this state's economy, and make appropriate recommendations to the legislature based on its findings.

This appears to be the heart of the bill:

Sec. 410. (1) The MIcare fund is created in the state treasury as the single source to finance health care coverage for MIcare.

(2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments. The state treasurer shall deposit all of the following into the fund:

(a) Transfers or appropriations from the general fund, authorized by the legislature.

(b) If authorized by a waiver from federal law, federal funds for Medicaid, Medicare, MIChild, and the exchange.

(c) The proceeds from grants, donations, contributions, taxes, and any other sources of revenue as may be provided by statute or by rule.

(d) Administrative fines collected under this act.

(3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year must remain in the fund and must not lapse to the general fund. The department is the administrator of the fund for auditing purposes.

(4) The department shall expend money from the fund, on appropriation, only for 1 or more of the following purposes:

(a) The administration and delivery of and payment for health services covered by MIcare as provided in this act.

(b) Expenses related to the duties and operation of the board.

There's much more to discuss. What strikes you as significant in this bill?

The full text as proposed July 18, 2023. As of this post, it awaits action in the House Insurance Committee.
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2023-2024/billintroduced/House/htm/2023-HIB-4893.htm

Full title: Human services: medical services; MIcare act; create. Creates new act.