Home » News

Brown, Melton: Plan Guarantees Health Care Access, Reins in Costs

Reforms would protect people by prohibiting insurers from jacking up rates on sick

PONTIAC - State Representatives Tim Melton (D-Pontiac) and Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) today unveiled a major health care reform package that would guarantee health care access to all Michigan citizens, prohibit insurance companies from rejecting or jacking up rates on the sick, and expand coverage for Michigan children. The plan also would rein in the skyrocketing cost of health care by creating a catastrophic health care fund to protect the sickest individuals.

"Our plan is a major overhaul of Michigan's health care system and guarantees health care access to everyone in the state," Melton said. "In these times of economic uncertainty, we need to hold insurance companies accountable. Not only are many workers dealing with job loss, they are being denied coverage or being charged higher rates because they are sick - that's unacceptable."

The plan to guarantee access to health care takes aim at a key element of Michigan's health care crisis. As more and more workers lose their jobs and employer-based health care coverage, many find themselves being rejected by insurance companies because they have an existing medical condition, adding to the state's more than 1.1 million uninsured residents. Michigan leads the nation in unemployment - 12.6 percent in March according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The plan will:

• Guarantee access to health care by requiring insurance companies to cover people who have pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes or cancer.
• Prohibit insurers from raising rates on individuals who become sick.
• Ban unfair market practices like cherry picking the healthiest individuals to cover, which drive up insurance rates and prevent some of the most vulnerable residents from obtaining care.
• Expand the state's MIChild program to help cover every child in Michigan.
• Create the Michigan Catastrophic Protection Plan (MICAPP) Fund to rein in the soaring cost of health care and protect the sickest individuals.

The lawmakers' health care reform package also takes aim at reining in the skyrocketing cost of health insurance by creating the MICAPP fund for individuals. The statewide fund would pay for the coverage of people with the most expensive medical conditions in an effort to rein in skyrocketing health care costs for everyone.

According to a 2008 study by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 120 percent since 1999. In 2007 alone, premiums for employer-based coverage rose by nearly 7 percent, with some of the largest increases inflicted upon small businesses with fewer than 24 workers.

In the coming weeks, lawmakers will be introducing other cost effective measures to further control the skyrocketing cost of health care, including the bulk purchasing of prescription drugs, electronic prescribing, tackling fraud and waste, and wellness and prevention programs.

"With the state of the economy in Michigan, we can't wait around hoping Washington does something, we have to act now," Brown said. "It's time we step up and show we value the health of our residents over the profits of wealthy insurance companies. We must protect our hard-working residents who play by the rules but are being victimized by Michigan's broken health care system."