In News Releases

For Immediate Release
June 6, 2018

Contact:
Laura Millard Ross
lauramr@mlpp.org

517.487.5436

LANSING—The Michigan League for Public Policy issued the following statement on Senate Bill 897, which passed out of the House Appropriations Committee this morning. It can be attributed to Michigan League for Public Policy President & CEO Gilda Z. Jacobs.

“As we have been saying all along, no exemptions or amendments will make this a good bill. That includes the bill reported out of committee this morning. It will take healthcare away from people and increase costs for the state, without making it any easier for people to find and keep a job. The League and our allies are deeply concerned about the long-lasting and damaging effects it will have on Michiganders.

There is much talk about Michigan’s “recovery” but that recovery hasn’t reached everyone. Families from Grand Rapids to Cheboygan to Alpena  face similar barriers to employment—and this bill does nothing to address them. Transportation, child care and job training are seriously lacking in our state. We should be addressing those barriers to employment, not taking away healthcare from folks who need it.

This bill follows the disturbing trend of lawmakers spreading the harmful myth that people with low incomes are the cause of our state’s problems. It’s a dangerous message—and this time it will cost lives.

We applauded the governor and his strong opposition to this bill when it passed the Senate, but the changes in this bill are still not a ‘reasonable nor responsible change to the state’s social safety net.’ We encourage the governor to examine this proposal more closely and the harmful impact and unintended consequences it will have on people with disabilities, parents, and those with chronic health conditions, as well as others. This bill does one thing: it takes healthcare away from some of our state’s most vulnerable residents. We strongly urge the House to defeat the bill and if not, we call on the governor to veto this harmful piece of legislation.”

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The Michigan League for Public Policy, www.mlpp.org, is a nonprofit policy institute focused on economic opportunity for all. It is the only state-level organization that addresses poverty in a comprehensive way

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