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Public Policy |
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Supports governmental
advocacy at the local, state and national level
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Dohn Hoyle, Executive
Director for The Arc Michigan, is a registered lobbyist
with the State of Michigan.
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The Arc Michigan employs
Wiener and Associates as a full service, bipartisan,
governmental affairs law firm located in Lansing,
Michigan.
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Action Alerts (State
and
Federal) |
Broker
Fees should not be excluded from the MLR
TAKE ACTION!
We do not want Higher premiums, less access and no
rebates for many consumers.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
is currently considering a resolution calling for
brokerage fees to be excluded from the Medical Loss
Ratio (MLR). Consisting of the state insurance
commissioners of all 50 states, NAIC frequently makes
recommendations to Health and Human Services (HHS) on
all MLR related matters.
The MLR, as mandated under the Affordable Care Act,
requires that 80 cents out of every dollar in insurance
premiums paid be put back into the healthcare of
policyholders. If the full 80 percent is not put into
patient care by the end of the year, the insurance
companies are required, under the ACA, to send
policyholders a rebate check (estimated to average
$164).
Currently, 22 of the 50 state insurance commissioners
have come out in favor of the resolution exempting
insurance brokers from the MLR. If adopted, this will
result in higher premiums, less access to healthcare and
no rebates for many consumers.
Michigan’s own Commissioner, Kevin Clinton, is not among
the 22 commissioners who have come out in support of the
resolution, but will likely be targeted by the industry
for support. It is important for healthcare consumers
that the insurance and brokerage industry are not
successful in winning Commissioner Clinton’s support, or
the support of any additional NAIC commissioners.
We are asking our Coalition partners to fax NAIC
President Susan Voss (816-783-8012) to express
opposition to the resolution. (NAIC does not allow
letters to be submitted electronically.) Please make
sure your correspondence is cc’d to our own Commissioner
Clinton (clintonk1@michigan.gov) and HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius (mlradjustments@hhs.gov
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TAKE ACTION! |
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Act Now to Safeguard More Than $53
Million in Consumer Rebates!
Dear Michigan
Consumers for Healthcare supporter,
Your immediate action is needed to assist the Michigan
Consumers for Healthcare coalition in safeguarding more
than $53 million that may be unjustly taken from state
healthcare consumers and handed over to the commercial
insurance carriers!
Known as the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), insurance
carriers are allowed to keep only 20 cents out of every
dollar collected in premiums under the new Affordable
Care Act (ACA). The remaining 80 cents must be
reinvested annually into the healthcare of the
policyholders. Insurance carriers that fail to spend the
full 80 cents on patient care must then write
reimbursement checks back to consumers for the
difference. Expressing concern for the profitability of
state commercial carriers, the Snyder Administration
recently requested that the federal government provide
the state a waiver allowing Michigan insurance carriers
to keep 35 cents out of every dollar in 2012, 30 cents
in 2113 and 25 cents in 2014.
What's at stake? If approved, this waiver request will
inevitably lead to higher premiums in our state over the
next three years and more uninsured citizens, thereby
destabilizing the insurance market. It also means that
consumers will be denied an estimated $25 million in
rebate checks in 2012, $18.4 million in 2013 and $10.7
million in 2014. The state has essentially decided that
for-profit insurance companies like Aetna, Humana and
Gold Rule Insurance need the $53 million more than
consumers do!
Michigan Consumers for Healthcare is asking all of our
partner organizations and consumer advocates to write
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
and ask her to deny the waiver request submitted by
Michigan Office of Insurance and Financial Regulation
Commissioner R. Kevin Clinton. A sample letter, talking
points and link to the waiver application are attached
to help you prepare your response.
To submit your own comment regarding the Michigan waiver
application, you may write Secretary Sebellius at
mlradjustments@hhs.org. Please include
Michigan in the email subject line.
We also need everyone to contact Senator's Stabenow and
Levin's offices and ask them both to weigh in publicly
against Michigan's waiver application. Senator Stabenow
can be contacted at (202) 224-4822 or by
e-mail. Senator Levin can be reached at
(202)224-6221 or by
e-mail
Action is needed immediately!
Sample Letter
Talking points
Waiver application
Don Hazaert
Project Director
Michigan Consumers for Healthcare
For more information please visit our website
www.healthcareadvancement.org.
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Action Alert! Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Introduced - message from
Michigan League for Human Services
Dear Members and Friends,
As we feared, legislation to end the Michigan Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC) has been introduced. Sen. Roger Kahn,
R-Saginaw Township, introduced Senate Bill 103
Tuesday.
The bill was cosponsored by Republican Senators Nofs (Battle
Creek), Pavlov (St. Clair), Meekhof (West Olive), Jones
(Grand Ledge), Brandenburg (Harrison Township), Booher
(Evart).
The Michigan League for Human Services
issued a statement on the day the bill was introduced.
The League has joined together with other groups in
opposition to eliminating the ETIC and has launched a new
website
www.saveoureitc.com.
Please go to the website and contact your lawmakers
about the EITC NOW! See the
Take Action Now
button.
Please share this website and urge others to contact their
lawmakers. For more about the legislation and its impact on
kids in Michigan, see our blog,
Stand up for kids!
Gov. Rick Snyder will be introducing his first state budget
next week. This is a critically important time for lawmakers
to hear that balancing the budget on the backs of
low-income families and kids is not the solution.
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Doing Advocacy |
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Open For Questions Wrap Up
The trial
run of Open for Questions has wrapped up with the
President answering several of the most popular
questions during a special online town hall. Click
here to view the online town hall or read questions
that have been submitted.
www.whitehouse.gov/OpenForQuestions/
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State Issues/Updates |
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Supreme
Court to Hear ACA Challenge, Health Exchange Bill Still
Under Review
from
MCMCH.org, November 15, 2011
Amid news that the U.S.
Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the 2010 health care
overhaul law--setting the stage for oral arguments by March
and a decision in late June--House Health Policy Committee
Chair Rep. Gail Haines said this week she has no members who
are eager
to vote on a bill creating Michigan's health exchange. Last
week the Senate passed SB 693 with split Republican
support. (The bill passed on a 25-12 vote, with all 12 no
votes coming from Republican senators. Attached,
please find text of SB 693 as passed by the Senate,
as well as the
official floor summary analysis by the Senate Fiscal
Agency.)
The measure creates a website called the MIHealth
Marketplace that would act as a clearinghouse for insurance
plans. The House committee has taken weeks of testimony on
the concept of state health exchanges, which are mandated by
the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and
that "deliberative" process will continue with three more
hearings when the Legislature comes back into session, Rep.
Haines said.
"If handled properly, a health exchange could help consumers
with choice, competition and value," she said. "We just want
to make sure we are looking at all the available options."
Rep. Haines said the Supreme Court's announcement does
influence the process of reviewing SB 693. While the
committee will know more about what direction to take after
the last hearing, Rep. Haines said the Republican caucus
also must examine the health exchange issue.
Whether all those factors would postpone a vote this year,
Rep. Haines said, "There are just so many uncertainties. I
don't have any members clamoring to vote."
The bill calls for the marketplace to contract with the
Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation to certify
health benefit plans that could be obtained through the
website.
On Tuesday the American
Medical Association said that state insurance exchanges
should not try to actively negotiate with health
plans--called an 'active purchaser' model by consumer
advocates--and instead allow any plan that meets the federal
standards laid out in the
healthcare reform law to have access to the exchanges. |
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Divided
Senate Passes Anti-Bullying Policy Requirement for
Schools - November 2, 2011
from
www.mcmch.org
The Senate divided
along party lines over a bill that would require school
districts to implement an anti-bullying policy.
Democrats argued passionately that specific
characteristics, such as gender, race or sexual
orientation, should be enumerated in
SB 137 to better protect children from bullying.
Republicans argued including those specifications would
actually exclude some children from protection.
But the greatest divide between the parties arose over
language included in a floor substitute to the bill that
exempts any statement made based on a moral conviction
or religious belief from being subject to the
anti-bullying policy. Before the final party line 26-11
vote, there were several amendments debated by the body.
Reactions to the bill have been largely negative by
those who have advocated for an anti-bullying measure.
The bill is called "Matt's Safe School Law" named after
Matt Epling, an East Lansing student who committed
suicide after being bullied. Kevin Epling, Matt's
father, has issued a statement saying he is "ashamed" of
the bill because it does not address the reasons
children are bullied and will not help prevent future
incidents.
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan also weighed in.
"There should never be an excuse or reason or
justification for anyone to bully, intimidate, or harass
a student. I cannot imagine any real moral conviction or
religious teaching that says it acceptable to inflict
pain, humiliation, and suffering on another person,
especially a child," Mr. Flanagan said. "The
legislation, as passed by the Michigan Senate, is a
disappointing development in a process that we have
worked on so diligently together for the protection of
all schoolchildren in Michigan. After my long
relationship with families of children who have
committed suicide after being bullied, I find this bill
now to be a joke, especially as it is named in memory of
one of those children."
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Wiener Associates Year End Legislative Summary |
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Federal Issues/Updates |
Feds Rule District Can
Limit School Choice For Special Education Students
Department
of Education officials are okaying a Missouri school
district’s plan to require preschoolers with disabilities to
attend a new special education center over objections from
area parents.
Currently, Springfield, Mo. children with disabilities
attend preschool within neighborhood schools where special
education classes include typically developing children who
often serve as role models. But when a new early childhood
special education center is completed early next year, all
special education preschoolers will be forced to move to the
new facility.
A local
parent filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s
Office of Civil Rights arguing that unilaterally moving all
special education students away from their zoned schools
denies them their right to an education in the least
restrictive environment. But this week the department found
that the school district plan is perfectly legal, reports
the (Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader. To read more click
here.
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Newsletters |
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Position Statements
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Special Reports |
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2008 Arc Michigan Annual Report (pdf) |
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adopted 6/2008
(