{"id":6437,"date":"2022-03-04T10:41:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T15:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/chang\/?p=6437"},"modified":"2022-03-04T10:41:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T15:41:13","slug":"democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LANSING, Mich. (March 4, 2022) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;<strong>Stephanie Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;<strong>Erika Geiss<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Taylor), and&nbsp;<strong>Mallory McMorrow<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Royal Oak) introduced legislation yesterday to help address some of the immediate and necessary needs of Michigan residents who survived catastrophic auto accidents.<br \/><br \/>If passed and signed into law, Senate Bills 945-947 would give family units and their support systems more flexibility to provide reimbursable care (<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2022-SB-0947\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 947<\/a>; McMorrow), eliminate the use of standards not derived from medical professionals from being used to deny treatment (<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2022-SB-0945\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 945<\/a>; Chang), and refine the term \u201cmedical treatment\u201d to carve out certain products, services, and accommodations from the fee cap system (<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2022-SB-0946\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 946<\/a>; Geiss).<br \/><br \/>\u201cAn auto accident affects more than just the people and vehicles directly involved \u2014 it affects whole families and friends, financially and physically, especially when those people take on the role of a caregiver to a survivor,\u201d Sen.&nbsp;<strong>McMorrow<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cA catastrophic injury upends the lives of both the injured and their families. Affording those who have become caregivers more flexibility is necessary to support this life-changing adjustment, so they can focus on providing care.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reached an agreement in the spring of 2019 to reform Michigan\u2019s no-fault auto insurance system and lower the state\u2019s auto insurance costs, providing relief to Michigan drivers who were paying some of the highest rates in the country.<br \/><br \/>The reforms that resulted from that legislation started taking effect in the summer of 2020 and included giving drivers the option to choose their preferred level of personal injury protection (PIP) coverage and establishing a fee schedule for how much health care providers could bill insurance companies when treating auto-related injuries.<br \/><br \/>\u201cAuto accidents are an unfortunate reality many Michiganders face, and crash survivors need to get adequate medical care. We have heard from accident survivors, their caregivers, and their family members who are crying out for change,\u201d Sen.&nbsp;<strong>Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cMy legislation would help ensure all of these victims get the treatment they need so they can live with dignity, and not be prevented \u2014 by the technicalities or minutia of our law \u2014 from getting the help that they deserve.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Since its implementation, care for survivors has been facing a crisis. One example is that the excessively stringent method used to cap medical fees has created a crisis in access to care for some catastrophic accident victims.<br \/><br \/>\u201cAdvancements in technology and medicine mean the range of care and treatments for crash survivors will also change over time,\u201d Sen.&nbsp;<strong>Geiss<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cWe must recognize this ever-evolving need, including revising what is or is not subject to a fee cap, so we do not leave vulnerable people out in the cold, with little to no recourse.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The legislation is identical to House Bills 5498-5500, which has bipartisan support in the House.<br \/><br \/>\u201cI\u2019m pleased to have colleagues in the Senate who understand the significant need for action on these matters,\u201d said Rep.&nbsp;<strong>Julie Rogers<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Kalamazoo), who is helping champion the effort in the House. \u201cEnsuring that the people we represent get the critical medical care they need is not a partisan issue \u2014 it is a human dignity issue. I look forward to continuing our work together so that we can advance this legislation and get relief measures in place for those who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, Mich. (March 4, 2022) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;Stephanie Chang&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;Erika Geiss&nbsp;(D-Taylor), and&nbsp;Mallory McMorrow&nbsp;(D-Royal Oak) introduced legislation yesterday to help address some of the immediate and necessary needs of Michigan residents who survived [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents - Senator Stephanie Chang<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. (March 4, 2022) \u2014 Sens.&nbsp;Stephanie Chang&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;Erika Geiss&nbsp;(D-Taylor), and&nbsp;Mallory McMorrow&nbsp;(D-Royal Oak) introduced legislation yesterday to help address some of the immediate and necessary needs of Michigan residents who survived [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senator Stephanie Chang\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-04T15:41:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-04T15:41:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\"},\"wordCount\":565,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Press release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents - Senator Stephanie Chang\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-04T15:41:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/\",\"name\":\"Senator Stephanie Chang\",\"description\":\"Michigan Senate Democrats\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents - Senator Stephanie Chang","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/chang\/2022\/03\/04\/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-victims-of-catastrophic-auto-accidents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Democrats Introduce Legislation to Help Victims of Catastrophic Auto Accidents","og_description":"LANSING, Mich. 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