KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Voters in five Michigan cities told their local governments on Nov. 3 to start studying what can be done about medical bills. Now those cities have to figure out how to do it.
Charter amendments creating citizen advisory health action committees passed in Benton Harbor with 80% of the vote, in East Lansing and Kalamazoo with 69% each, in Lansing with 66% and in Portage with 55%. Each panel will have seven or eight unpaid members who are expected to bring research, analysis and community outreach skills, though they can be reimbursed for expenses.
The boards have a set job list. They are to hold public forums where residents describe how health costs hit their households, hold more forums on how federal and state policy drives those costs, keep track of how state and federal lawmakers vote on health legislation, and hand city leaders a written Healthcare Action Plan by Oct. 1 of every even-numbered year. City councils must then take public comment on that plan at a hearing by Oct. 15.
What the panels can actually change is an open question. Health care pricing is set mostly by federal and state rules, insurers and hospital systems, and many city public health programs are run by county health departments rather than city hall. Supporters argue the reports will at least force local conversations about problems such as uninsured patients leaning on ambulances and emergency rooms, and give residents a louder collective voice in Lansing and Washington.
Not every city wanted the job. The Kalamazoo City Commission voted unanimously in October to oppose the measure, with members raising concerns about the long-term cost to taxpayers of staffing and running a permanent committee. Officials in East Lansing and Portage said they are reviewing next steps.
The campaigns behind the ballot questions were run by City Action Michigan, previously known as Community Action Michigan. Through mid-October its ballot committee reported $2.8 million in donations, all from out-of-state nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. Much of that money went to advertising and to paid signature gatherers.
The measures also landed in politically contested territory. All five cities sit in two swing congressional districts whose Republican incumbents, U.S. Reps. Tom Barrett and Bill Huizenga, lost their seats on Nov. 3 to Democrats Will Lawrence and Sean McCann.
The push grew out of anger over rising costs. When petitions were turned in to the Kalamazoo city clerk in July, backers pointed to the federal budget and tax law signed last year, which cut and reshaped funding for Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Filed under: Lansing MI Health News
