Updates About Public Health

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she has joined a coalition of 22 states to support a proposed federal rule that protects access to healthcare. The proposed rule seeks to rescind portions of a 2019 rule that allows individuals or entities to deny healthcare on religious or moral grounds.

In the coalition’s comment letter, 22 attorneys general from across the country expressed their support, arguing:

• It protects vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ communities and people seeking reproductive care, by revoking parts of the 2019 Rule that opened them up to discrimination and threatened to exacerbate already existing inequities in healthcare
• It strikes a better balance between safeguarding conscience rights of individual medical providers and protecting access to healthcare for patients
• It corrects portions of the 2019 Rule that are redundant, confusing, or have been deemed illegal by courts in litigation brought by the states, as well as local governments and healthcare providers
• It protects billions of dollars in federal funding for states’ public healthcare and other federally funded programs that provide crucial health, education, and labor services

Legislative committee agendas were full this week with testimony being heard on both the House and Senate’s gun reform legislation packages as well as efforts to repeal Michigan’s 1931 abortion prohibition laws. The House moved quickly on repealing the state’s 1931 law prohibiting abortions and heard hours of compelling testimony on why Michigan needs gun reform legislation.

We anticipate the legislature to move the gun reform legislation out of their respective House and Senate committees next week, with possible passage before legislative Spring Break at the end of March.

The Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, which was established in April 2020 and created per Executive Order 2020-55, released its final report.

The report, which details efforts by the task force to respond to the disproportionate pandemic surges within disadvantaged communities, outlines investments and approaches made to improve health equity during the pandemic. It also discusses additional recommendations that the state can adopt moving forward to continue to improve health equity in Michigan.

Notable data in the report revealed that Michigan exceeded the national net drop in death rates of Black Americans. Black Michiganders fell from 15 deaths per 10,000 to 6.1 deaths in 2022. National averages revealed Black Americans saw 8.9 deaths per 10,000.

The full report can be found here.