Updates About Public Health

Following testimony in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections, it was revealed that Michigan’s prisoner population has been steadily declining, but the mental and physical health caseload is on the rise.

About a third of Michigan’s prisoner population is currently on active mental health caseload. Approximately 446 patients are awaiting Hepatitis C treatment, while 69 patients are currently receiving treatment. The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) adds about 11 new patients each month, spending an average of $15,122 per patient on Hepatitis C treatment. These costs are a significant portion of the MDOC budget, totaling over $300 million per year.

MDOC is also facing challenges regarding staffing, especially with corrections officers and healthcare staff. There are about 866 total corrections officer vacancies which is equivalent to about 15.3% of total corrections officers. MDOC is prioritizing staffing recruitment and retention efforts as well as combatting the increase in mental and physical health caseload.

On Thursday March 30, a federal judge in Texas ruled to overturn a portion of the Affordable Care Act in Braidwood Management. Inc. v. Becerra. This decision struck down the requirement that makes preventive services and screenings covered by health insurers with no additional cost to the patient. Services like screenings for cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure could become costly, diminish access to affordable early detection, and put people’s health at risk.

Following this decision, Governor Whitmer directed the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DFIS) to protect Michigan families and ensure access to no-cost preventive healthcare services. This decision in Braidwood Management. Inc. v. Becerra is however being appealed by the US Department of Justice.

On Thursday April 6, Governor Whitmer announced that insurers who represent 100% of the fully insured health insurance market will continue to cover no-cost preventive services for Michigan residents.

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