Sam Howell Appears in Video from the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning
Sam Howell, a brain injury survivor, and his parents share an important message about distracted driving.
Civic Engagement Day Training
For more information on advocacy, visit our Advocacy page.
Urge Your Legislator to Vote No on HB 5013
Last Thursday, HB 5013 passed out of committee and now sits on the House floor for a vote. This bill will likely be brought up on the floor for a house vote this week, with a second reading on Wednesday and vote on Thursday. Mayor Duggan, a number prominent Detroit Business men and corporations, and members from the Michigan Chamber are working hard to advance this bill. Additionally, HB 5013 will increase the amount of Medicaid spending by $80 million in ten years.
IT IS TIME TO TAKE ACTION AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.
We strongly encourage you to join us at the Capitol and oppose this legislation, which would:
- Authorize unprecedented dollar cap limitations on no-fault benefits
- Give insurance companies greater control over patients’ medical care
- Greatly increases the power of the insurance companies while taking legal rights away from patients
- Only offers temporary premium rate reductions, if any at all
A strong showing of folks opposing this bill outside the house floor both days is important. Anticipate two long afternoons especially on Thursday. Session on Thursday starts at noon.
We will meet, receive a short update, gather materials and have lunch across the street from the House Office Building at the Central Methodist Church basement, 215 North Capitol from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM on Wednesday and from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM on Thursday. Salad, pizza, and beverages will be provided on Wednesday at about 11:45 AM. Lunch on Thursday will be ready about 11:00 AM prior to the start of a noon House session.
We need your help if we are going to make sure this bill is defeated. If able, we strongly encourage you to join us. If you are unable, there are still ways you can help and make your voice heard.
- Email your legislators. We’ve provided a pre-written form letter, but feel free to make changes or write your own letter and send it. If you write your own, be sure they know your situation and what you stand to lose if this passes.
- Call your legislators. We’ve provided talking points, but feel free to make changes or include your own. Be sure they know your situation and what you stand to lose if this passes.
- Use social media to share your position and stories regarding your health care situation and be sure to use the hashtags #ProtectNoFault and #NO5013. Tell your story and let people know that the care being received would be impossible under the Duggan-Leonard plan.
Help us protect defend the system of care critical to so many Michiganders who have been, and unfortunately will be, auto accident survivors and their families.
A Response to the Recent CTE Study
Written by Or, Sean Rose
A newly published research study, titled “Clinicopathological evaluation of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in players of American football’” diagnosed CTE in 110 of 111 former NFL players, and overall in 177 of 202 former football players with varying amounts of playing exposure. This is an important study because it included the largest number of CTE cases in football players ever published. However, it’s important to put these results into the right context.
Understanding two different research principles is necessary when interpreting the results: levels of scientific evidence and selection bias. There are multiple levels of scientific evidence, from weak to strong. Opinion and anecdotal findings (for example, when a doctor notices a pattern in a few of his/her patients) are the weakest types of evidence. Randomized trials and compilations of multiple trials are the strongest. A case series: which means that the people included in the study were chosen based on their medical condition, is considered to be one of the weaker types of This study is a case series because the football players were already known or suspected to have CTE. Case series are unable to establish a cause-effect relationship or the incidence of a disease.
“Selection bias” means that the people who are included in a study are not randomly chosen, and the group chosen is not representative of the population that needs to be studied. For example, if you want to know what percentage of students at a school have strep throat, you would bias the results by only testing those students complaining of a sore throat. In this study, the player or his family chose to donate his brain to be studied for CTE, likely because he was having symptoms and other brain problems before he died. Farmer football players who do not have symptoms before dying are less likely to donate their brains to be studied for CTE.
Keeping in mind these two research principles, it becomes clear that focusing on the percentage of football players diagnosed with CTE in this study is misleading. The high frequency of CTE in this group of patients could represent the high degree of selection bias. As the authors of this study acknowledge, “Caution must be used in interpreting the high frequency of CTE in this sample, and estimates of prevalence cannot be concluded or implied from this sample.” Much more research, involving study types with stronger scientific evidence, is needed to determine the risk factors for developing CTE. Studying a random group of former football players’ brains, or following a group of youth football players through their years of participation, would provide that stronger evidence.
As we await the results of ongoing research in these areas, we should be thoughtful in the way we handle the current evidence. CTE does develop in some football players, as well as other athletes and non-athletes who are exposed to repetitive head impacts. We don’t know the degree of risk, but it is reasonable to assume that there is a dose effect (i.e. more head impacts increase your risk). Taking results from studies of NFL players and applying them to children is problematic. In the current study, CTE was not seen in any individuals who only played football in grade school, and seen at a low frequency in those who only played through high school. It is also important to note that the current study findings have not been replicated in better designed studies. For example, in a study of over 400 individuals (average age 68) who played high school football from 1946-1956, there was no increased risk of dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases compared to classmates who did not play a contact sport.1
The bottom line is that while concern about CTE in former NFL players may be an appropriate response to this study, putting it into the right context highlights the need to conduct substantially more research using different stud y designs before we make dramatic conclusions and statements about CTE and contact sports participation in general.
1. Savica R, Parisi JE, Wold LE, Josephs KA, Ahlskog JE. High school football and risk of neurodegeneration a community-based study. Mayo Clinic Proc. 2012;87:335-340.
Urgent Action Needed: No Repeal Without Replacement
We are asking you to contact your federal lawmakers and urge them not to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a comprehensive replacement plan. Congress is currently putting forth legislation to repeal the ACA. This is not about political affiliations, but about healthcare coverage continuity for millions of Americans. Any repeal of the ACA without a plan to take its place will negatively affect hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents and millions of Americans. It’s wrong for America and it’s wrong for Michigan.
Here’s why:
- An immediate repeal would affect roughly 1-in-10 people in Michigan, disproportionately impacting less well-off districts. Without agreement on an immediate replacement, repeal could leave those dependent on ACA for health coverage completely uninsured.
- ACA repeal without a robust replacement plan could also increase the cost of coverage as younger and healthier Michigan residents opt out of health insurance, further burdening the State to cover those older or with chronic conditions. Furthermore, ACA repeal without a substantive replacement means those with pre-existing conditions will either be denied coverage or face far higher costs for basic coverage. This would affect around 28% of Michigan residents. Michigan citizens should not be forced to choose between their health and bankruptcy.
- Because the ACA allows children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they reach age 26, repeal could eliminate coverage for nearly 73,000 young adults in Michigan age 18-26.
- In Michigan, the Medicaid expansion has had a positive effect on the state’s economy and more than paid for itself. According to a study published by the University of Michigan in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 30,000 new jobs were created every year with 85% of them in the private sector and one-third in a healthcare field. Repealing the ACA without a replacement plan in place would undo all of this and could cost Michigan over 100,000 jobs.
- Seniors and people with disabilities rely on Medicaid for long-term services an d Cuts, block grants, or per capita cap proposals would hurt these people, who have no other means of paying for the care they need.
Call your U.S. Representative at: (202)225-3121 Call Senator Stabenow at: (202) 224-4822
Call Senator Peters at: (202) 224-6221
Use Engage to email your lawmakers using the sample message:
- Go to our Engage site (http://cqrcengage.com/biami/home)
- Send the featured letter that’s posted by pressing Take Action
- Fill in your information, and add personal details if you would like
Thank you for your immediate attention to this urgent matter.
CPAN Executive Committee Expels MHA
Lansing, Mich., January 3, 2017 – The Executive Committee of the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault (CPAN) voted to remove The Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA) from the organization. The vote was held shortly after the close of the 2016 lame duck session of the Michigan State Legislature and officially announced December 21, 2106. The vote to expel is a result of MHA collaborating with the auto insurance industry on reforms to auto no-fault that would have capped benefits for uninsured children, seniors. bicyclists. and pedestrians; cut family-provided attendant care for catastrophically injured accident victims; and created an unbalanced fraud authority funded by the auto insurance industry.
CPAN was created in 2003 solely for protecting the Michigan Auto No-Fault Law as ii was originally designed and to preserve its promise that all injured auto accident victims would be guaranteed coverage for all necessary medical and rehabilitation expenses for as long as they are deemed necessary, up to and including the life of the victim. The Brain Injury Association of Michigan (BIAMI) has been a staunch supporter and member of CPAN from the beginning.
“When it was first created, CPAN adopted a Statement of Principles to further define its objectives and the membership commitment that would be required of all persons and organizations who sought to join the Coalition. During the last several weeks of the lame duck legislative session, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association violated those principles and breached that commitment by actively supporting and vigorously pursuing legislation that would have stripped thousands of
seriously injured accident victims of their lifetime coverage. Legislation such as this is exactly what CPAN was created to vigorously oppose CPAN has an abiding obligation to its membership to act decisively to demonstrate that it will remain true to its principles and its mission. That is why the actions of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association cannot be ignored,” said Cornack.
While MHA’s membership in CPAN has ended, CPAN’s Executive Committee stated it would be willing to work with MHA on any auto no-fault proposals that were not inconsistent with CPAN goals and objectives.
“If anything, what happened during this lame duck session has galvanized CPAN’s membership to stay strongly united in its common commitment to find fair, long-term solutions to improving Michigan’s auto no-fault insurance system so that lifetime coverage for severely injured patients is not jeopardized,” said Cornack. He also stated that CPAN hopes MHA will take this as an opportunity to re-commit itself to the patients served by the no-fault system and act in their best interest to protect and improve this critical health care system.
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About the Brain Injury Association of Michigan
BIAMI is dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by brain injury while reducing the incidence and impact of brain injury through education, advocacy, support, treatment services, and research. Founded in 1981, the Brighton, Mich. based BIAMI serves Michigan’s brain injury community through comprehensive education and prevention programs. The BIAMI is the primary conduit between survivors and an extensive network of facilities, programs, and professionals in the state of Michigan, which is nationally recognized as a center of excellence in brain injury treatment and rehabilitative care. The BIAMI also supports 20 statewide chapters and support groups that meet monthly. For more information, visit www.biami.org or call the toll-free helpline at (800) 444-6443.
