Things are pretty screwy in Michigan these days.
Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer is out on the campaign trail gushing about the $400 auto insurance rebate that Michigan voters are supposed to receive, thanks to her incredible ability to reach across the aisle. In response, Michiganders who are disabled as a result of car accidents and their family members have begun showing up at the offices of state lawmakers in Lansing to highlight the downside of this rebate.
This getting vocal approach really works.
In Michigan, there is a fund that covers the cost of the lifetime disability-related expenses of state residents who become disabled in car accidents. The money in the fund comes from the no-fault lifetime liability payments that are a part of the state’s auto insurance premiums.
This was once a mandatory component of every auto insurance policy in Michigan. That kept the fund flush enough to cover the cost of providing more than 6,600 disabled people with the assistance they need at home with basic daily tasks such as dressing, bathing, and moving about. These are among the 18,000 injured Michiganders who were receiving some level of medical care under the old program.
But in 2019, state lawmakers passed “reform” legislation that screwed over those 6,600 disabled people big time. Those who were the catalysts of the reform effort must have known how much it reeked because the law was put forward and voted on with little notice and virtually no public debate.
The new law, among other things, ended the requirement that all policyholders pay a fixed amount into the fund. It also required some of the rehab clinics and agencies that treat crash victims to cut their prices by 45 percent, which, as the Detroit Free Press reported, has led to some of these facilities anticipating closure and telling “patients and their families to start looking for alternative arrangements.”
It doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict the brutal consequences. According to the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council, 1,548 disabled people have lost needed care because of the law change and at least 3,049 health care jobs have disappeared. Infuriating media stories circulated of disabled people who rely on the fund suddenly having their support cut off due to lack of money.
The state legislature created this crisis and is obviously in the best position to do something about it quickly. But the Republicans who control both houses of the Michigan legislature just don’t care. Bills intended to repair at least some of the damage appear to be going nowhere.
“I’ve spent an entire year looking at every idea that was proposed and working with our committee on options,” Republican State House Speaker Jason Wentworth said in a statement on March 16. “They all either move us back toward the old status quo or put the savings and refund checks for Michigan drivers at risk. At this point, it’s time to move on.”
Whitmer is also playing dumb, campaigning away with her head in the sand and pretending that the auto insurance changes have resulted in nothing but good things for all Michiganders.
In March, her office issued a statement announcing that the refunds would be coming soon. “I am committed to lowering costs for Michiganders and putting money back in people’s pockets,” she said. “[W]e will keep working together to grow our economy and build a state where families can thrive.”
But what Whitmer should have said is: We will keep working together to grow our economy and build a state where families can thrive, as long as nobody in those families has become permanently disabled in a car accident.
The next day, Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan held a press event at a car dealership to ballyhoo the refunds even more. Some ordinary citizens were on the program to speak about how grateful they were to be receiving the much-needed refund. Nobody who lost disability support services as a result of the reform law spoke.
The courts might offer some hope. Some people who have been cut off have filed lawsuits, with mixed results. In March, a judge ordered the insurance company of a man who was disabled in a 2011 car crash to reimburse the provider of his in-home assistance at the current market rate. The judge also said the reform law was unconstitutional.
But, as we all know, the courts move at a plodding pace. All this can be appealed for years. And disabled people need help now.
The good news is that lately disabled folks have demonstrated an ability to successfully address their grievances without counting on the legislature or the judiciary. And they’ve done it simply by getting loud.
In the 2021 case of CVS v. Doe, people who are HIV-positive filed a federal lawsuit against the pharmacy chain because of company policy that made certain drugs available at an affordable price only if ordered via the mail. The plaintiffs said not being able to pick up the medications in person at the same price violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by recipients of federal funds, on the grounds that it denied them the opportunity to consult with a pharmacist and for other reasons.
A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. CVS Pharmacy Inc. not only appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but argued that Section 504 should be interpreted to outlaw only intentional discrimination. This was an alarming line of contention, which, if accepted, would have diluted Section 504 to the point of near meaninglessness. Any discrimination against the disabled that wasn’t done with premeditated malice could have been considered immune from legal challenge.
When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, disability activists howled, demanding that CVS back off. The American Civil Liberties Union and several entities representing disabled people filed amicus briefs in support of the plaintiffs. A hashtag campaign was launched on Twitter and other social media platforms, calling out CVS for its stance.
It worked. Last November, CVS issued a statement saying it was withdrawing its appeal and would try to negotiate a settlement.
The same thing happened in the case of Payan v. Los Angeles Community College District. Some blind people and organizations representing the blind filed suit in 2017 charging that LACCD violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not supplying blind students with classroom accommodations such as note-taking assistance and accessible reading materials.
Like CVS, LACCD claimed that unintentional discrimination doesn’t count, an argument that two lower courts rejected. In March, the LACCD Board of Trustees met to decide whether or not to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Two plaintiffs and dozens of protesters gathered outside. When the public comment period began, they all marched inside and testified about the case for nearly three hours.
The trustees then voted unanimously not to appeal the case and to try mediation.
“We . . . agree completely with all of the people who took the time during the past several months to share with us their thoughts and feelings,” Trustee David Vela said in a statement. “Their strong, heartfelt beliefs resonate with us and it is our desire to bring quick closure to the case.”
Wow. This getting vocal approach really works. Even the World Health Organization had to back off when it riled up people with Down syndrome and their allies.
March 3 was World Birth Defects Day. So on February 28, in preparation for the big day, WHO listed Down syndrome on its website as one of the “most common severe birth defects.”
This prompted a stern statement of rebuke from the National Down Syndrome Congress. “Down syndrome is not a disease, illness, or birth defect. It is a genetic condition. Its causes are unknown and cannot be prevented,” it said. “Individuals with Down syndrome benefit from loving and supportive homes, early intervention, therapies, medical care, high-quality education, positive public attitudes, and welcoming communities.”
WHO also got more than 1,000 comments on the promotional post on Facebook. So when World Birth Defects Day rolled around, WHO replied with an apology that read, “WHO has edited its original post which, in conflating two distinct messages, unintentionally implied that Down syndrome was preventable through antenatal and newborn care. We sincerely apologize for any offense caused by our statement to people living with Down syndrome and their families.”
The disabled victims of auto insurance reform in Michigan are up against a lot—not only callously indifferent Democrats and Republicans but also the insurance industry, which appears to have intimidated both parties into submission.
But there’s a Facebook group called We Can’t Wait, which is a place for reform victims and their families to organize. Members showed up uninvited outside Speaker Wentworth’s church, where they gathered peacefully and held up signs. They also showed up outside the church of the Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, who has a very appropriate last name.
If they keep up that kind of direct action, maybe they, too, will prevail.