Thread by @ChadLivengood

Meet Kelley Miller (left), 54, of Mulliken, Mich. Kelley was paralyzed from the neck down in a 2011 car accident. She needs a ventilator to breathe and requires 24-7 care @ home. For a decade, Michigan's auto insurance safety net for catastrophic injuries has provided that care🧵

I first wrote about Kelley Miller back in April when the impact of the Legislature's 45% cut in payments to home health care agencies that care for injured drivers came into focus.

Because her ventilator can fail, Kelley needs an RN and aide at home.

crainsdetroit.com/auto-insurance…
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In October, 1st Call Home Healthcare in Clinton Twp. dropped Kelley Miller as a patient, citing the 45% in payments.

Two of her nurses started a new company called RN Plus Staffing, hoping to exploit a loophole in the 2019 law that sets rates based on what 2019 charges.

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RN Plus Staffing, based in Laingsburg, has one other client who I've written about: John Wicke, a 52-year-old Corunna man who is a quadriplegic. Wicke had to live at Sparrow Hospital for a month this summer after his home care agency quit.
crainsdetroit.com/voices-chad-li…
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In October, Auto-Owners Insurance told Kelley Miller's case manager it would pay pre-law change rates until Jan. 15, said Stacey Krause, co-owner of RN Plus Staffing and one of Kelley's long-time nurses.

The insurer paid $67/hour for RNs, $56/hour for LPNs & $27/hour for aides.

RN Plus Staffing's normal charges would be $75/hour for an RN, $65/hour for LPN & $33/hour for an aide, Krause said.
Starting yesterday, Auto-Owners wanted to pay: $40/hour for an RN, $25/hour for LPN and $13.65/hour for an aide PLUS they wanted Kelley to manage her own care.
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Auto-Owners (and other insurers) are trying to cut out the companies that manage care. They have expenses too: Taxes, insurance, rent, etc...

“We would have had to pay the hourly wage and all of our overhead costs, which is not feasible,” Krause said. “It’s just not possible.”

RN Plus Staffing stopped providing nurses at 7 a.m. Sunday.

That's when Kelley Miller called 911 and requested an ambulance take her to Sparrow Hospital, Krause said Sunday.

“I’ll need an ICU bed that somebody else probably needs a lot more than me,” Miller told me on Saturday.

Here's where Michigan's 2019 auto insurance reform stands:

The lives of vulnerable adults like Kelley Miller are getting upended by government price-fixing that's squeezing small businesses (home care agencies) out of business.

Kelley Miller was injured 10 years ago.

If nothing is done to change the reimbursement rates, 1st Call Home Healthcare is preparing to discharge the rest of its 50 home-bound patients w/ auto insurance on Feb. 1, co-owner Bob Mlynarek told me last week.

crainsdetroit.com/voices-chad-li…

—> @MichiganRadio’s @PubRadioTracy reported Sunday from Kelley Miller’s home in rural Eaton County as her nurse called 911, an ambulance carried her out of the house and Kelley missed a granddaughter’s birthday party.
michiganradio.org/transportation…

(Attention: @SenMikeShirkey)