Rivet Suggests Opening Up Medicare For Those Who Want It
U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) described the United States’ health care system as being in a “crisis” that, in the long term, should include affordable insurance programs, which “likely means . . . a reasonable proposal that opens up Medicare for people who want it.”
Speaking in November during a press conference sponsored by Protect Our Care, Rivet advocated for a return of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that have kept health insurance rates steady and affordable for Americans. Without the tax credits, “millions of Americans” are at risk of going without health insurance, which will jack up rates for everyone else.
Rivet mentioned a small business owner who is opting to drop health insurance altogether and purchase only health care for her daughter because the One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated the credits, which made their medical coverage affordable.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said, adding that Republicans in Washington D.C. are ignoring the problem by not bringing to the House floor legislation to address the situation.
“This is an emergency,” Rivet said. “It’s something that has to be dealt with right now, and that’s why we’re talking about the ACA tax credits, but it certainly isn’t an indication that doing that and putting those tax credits back in place as a safety net for millions of Americans is going to fix our health care system.” There’s so much work that we have to do, she added.
“Medicaid is a system that is bureaucratic and too burdensome and needs some reform. Heck, these tax credits need some reform, but we can’t decide that we’re just going to cut trillions of dollars from these programs without anything to replace it with.”
Bringing down the cost of prescription drugs to a place where people can afford them is a start, she said, but so is making preventative care and general health care reasonably priced through affordable insurance programs.
“That likely means that we have to put a reasonable proposal on the table that opens up Medicare for people who want it,” she said.
Doctors’ New Orders May Mean Fewer Continuing Ed Hours
Physicians would need to take 75 hours of continuing education every three years, as opposed to the current 150 hours, under legislation introduced this week by Rep. Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar) with the support of the Michigan State Medical Society.
If signed into law, HB 5313 would bring Michigan in line with other states’ continuing education requirements. According to the Continuing Education Company, Michigan’s current standards are among the country’s most stringent. Bierlein said there isn’t much proof that the stricter standards are accomplishing much tangible benefit.
“If you’re a doctor in another state, why would you get licensed in Michigan if you need to do twice as much work?” Bierlein said. “We’ve been part of a physician compact for the past 20 years and there’s no evidence that there’s a higher rate of physician accidents, malpractice or injury in states with continuing education requirements that are half of what Michigan has. It’s not what we see.
“Keeping the current regulations doesn’t make sense,” he said.
The bill has been six months in the making as different physician groups went back and forth over how specific they wanted to get with the continuing education requirements. However, now that it’s out, House Health Policy Committee Chair Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) has expressed a willingness to move on it, Bierlein said.
Dr. Amit Ghose, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, applauded the “modernization” proposal.
“Michigan is regularly portrayed as among the most burdensome states in the country for medical licensure, and this contributes directly and negatively to our ability to keep and attract physicians in our state,” he said.
“HB 5313 is a forward-looking, bipartisan effort to modernize Michigan’s health licensing system. It will reduce outdated burdens and enhance fairness. It will strengthen our medical workforce, support public safety, and ensure Michigan is no longer an outlier—but a leader—in efficient, accountable health regulation.”
D’s Want Vaccinations overseen by State Public Health Officials, Not CDC
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) could break from the Centers for Disease Control and set the state’s own immunization schedules and policies under legislation announced as part of the House Democrats’ 11-bill child vaccination reform package.
Under the plan, the Michigan Advisory Committee on Immunizations will give their thoughts on any changes to when and how vaccines against such diseases as polio, measles, mumps and chicken pox can be given, with DHHS officials having the final say.
The proposal comes as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves toward “restoring public trust” in vaccines by taking a hard look into whether giving a Hepatitis B vaccine to an infant, for example, comes with consequences that haven’t been fully studied.
Lead sponsor and medical doctor Rep. Matt Longjohn (D-Portage) said Kennedy’s “hand-picked team of vaccine science deniers” are taking “reckless” actions that are unnecessarily causing “chaos” and “confusion” through his “quackery” to create vaccine skepticism.
Told of Kennedy’s comments to the Wall Street Journal that he wants a “restoration of public trust above any pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” Longjohn said, “He’s the one instilling a lack of confidence in the public’s eye about vaccinations.
“It’s pretty rich for him to say that he has to clean house to create trust,” he continued. “It’s like the arsonist taking credit for calling the fire department.”
The Democrats’ bills don’t mandate immunizations, but they do require DHHS to share vaccination information with parents along with the immunization rates of the children attending their kids’ school or day care.
Insurance carriers would also be mandated to cover all immunizations under the bills.
“I think it should be clear what’s going to happen given the attack on vaccines,” said Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-Grand Rapids). “People, children are going to die, and it is our responsibility as elected officials and as parents and adults to protect those children, and that’s what this package does.”
Watching today’s press conference on the House Democrats’ livestream was Rep. Brad Paquette (R-Niles), who had a heart attack at 33 after getting the Moderna vaccine.
He said during COVID, “The CDC was God. Everyone said, ‘The CDC says this. The CDC says that. Now, because there’s been a change at the top, all of a sudden it’s different.”
Paquette is calling for “true, transparent science” to get to the bottom of whether accepted vaccination schedules are causing more harm than good.
“We don’t know what SIDS is. We don’t know why children die unexpectedly a lot of times . . . Is it an inflammation from some of these shots? These questions shouldn’t be dismissed in any capacity,” Paquette said. “At the very least, parents shouldn’t be called quacks when saying we want to empower them, especially when they’re saying you can make the decision on their own.”