Michigan Disability Resistance

Insulin prices have been rising — increases that mean some people are spending as much on monthly diabetes-related expenses as their mortgage payment.

It's led some people living with diabetes to turn to the black market, crowdfunding pages, and Facebook pages to get access to the life-saving drug.

At the same time, the companies that make insulin have faced pressure from politicians including Senator Bernie Sanders, class-action lawsuits that accuse the companies of price-fixing, and proposed legislation in Nevada. 

Even in the face of this criticism, two of those drugmakers — Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk — raised the list price of their insulins again in 2017. 

Diabetes is a group of conditions in which the body can't properly regulate blood sugar that affects roughly 30 million people in the US. For many people living with diabetes — including the 1.25 million people in the US who have type-1 diabetes — injecting insulin is part of the daily routine.

Medicaid expansion increases access to care and improves health - and not just for those made newly eligible! 

One of the recent findings regarding the benefits of Medicaid expansion is that it improves overall access to care in addition to access to coverage, and improves health outcomes as a result. Several studies published this year have evaluated Medicaid expansion since its inception and found the following benefits:

• Increased early cancer detections: A study from the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that states that expanded Medicaid saw a meaningful increase in cancer patients who were diagnosed in the early stages of development, allowing them to begin treatment when the disease was easier to treat.
• Reduced smoking rates: A survey of residents of expansion states found that 8.1 percent of enrollees reported they had quit smoking in the prior year, compared with 6 percent of low-income adults in states without expansion.
• Increased well-child visits: A report in Pediatrics found that children whose parents recently enrolled in Medicaid were 29 percent more likely to receive at least one well-child visit.

Not only does Medicaid expansion help improve health outcomes for its enrollees, but it also improves their financial well-being and security. Researchers at the University of Minnesota who studied financial debt from 2012-15 found that in states that expanded Medicaid, the percentage of low-income adults with medical debt fell by almost half. For instance, states who expanded Medicaid had a 13 percent point decline in medical debt between 2012-2015, while those who did not only experienced a 7 percent reduction. Additionally, the National Bureau of Economic Researchfound that Medicaid expansion significantly reduced the number of unpaid, non-medical bills and the amount of non-medical debt sent to third-party collection agencies, illustrating that gaining health insurance provides financial benefits beyond just eliminating medical debt. Overall, expansion reduced unpaid medical debt in its first two years by $3.4 billion.

These results can be added to the growing mountain of evidence that shows how expanding Medicaid improves access to coverage and care for individuals and families. Not only that, but expanding Medicaid has been shown to be an economic win for states, allowing them to draw down billions of federal dollars while reducing their own spending on providing care to the uninsured. In addition, safety net providers have seen a dramatic reduction in their uncompensated care costs, which has protected them from financial loss and allowed them tobetter serve their patients.

It is no surprise, then, that voters across the country are sending the message that it is time to expand Medicaid in states that have not done so. Now is the time for policymakers in non-expansion states to heed that message and do what is best for their state and its residents.Medicaid expansion significantly reduces medical debt

MLH launched an exciting new tool for people looking for legal help or information – the Guide to Legal Help. The Guide gives visitors referrals and legal information tailored to their legal problem and the resources available to them.

The Guide to Legal Help has many important uses. It can help someone identify and describe a legal problem so they can easily talk about it with advocates, lawyers, or court staff. The Guide directs them to legal information on the Michigan Legal Help website where they can learn more about their legal problem. If they choose, they can use the tools there to easily create necessary court forms.

Most importantly, the Guide gives visitors tailored referrals to Legal Aid or private bar referral services. Legal Aid offices around the state are limited in how many people they can help, and often would-be clients are frustrated when they spend time talking with Legal Aid but can’t get help. The Guide to Legal Help refers people with legal problems to the most appropriate resources for them given their circumstances and the available options in their community. Clients may be directed to a Legal Aid office, or to Michigan’s Counsel and Advocacy Law Line, or to the State Bar of Michigan’s various lawyer search and referral tools.

The Guide to Legal Help also refers people to mediation options where appropriate, and to online dispute resolution options where these are available. It also refers visitors to other resources such as foreclosure housing counselors, government agencies, and domestic violence shelters.

In addition to referring people to self-help and lawyer resources, the Guide has unique screening features that allow it to deliver tailored resources. The Guide refers people to out-of-state Legal Aid websites if they are not from Michigan. It screens for specialized services for elderly people, veterans, and other groups. It alerts visitors to possible eligibility for public benefits they are not receiving, and it directs visitors to the type of legal assistance they need most.

The Guide to Legal Help works on a mobile phone, and if someone can’t access the Internet, they can use the Guide at any Self-Help Center or public library. If someone needs help using the Guide, Michigan Legal Help’s LiveHelp chat service is available, and all Self-Help Center staff will get a special training on how the Guide works. To see the Guide in action, visit michiganlegalhelp.org/guide-to-legal-help.

Where are the sprinklers????

https://goo.gl/R1i1To

A three-alarm fire engulfed a senior-living facility outside Philadelphia Thursday night, leaving at least 20 people injured and more than 200 displaced. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. 

The fire was reported just after 11 p.m. at Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester, and it quickly spread to other buildings in the complex. Several residents were reported to be standing in the street wrapped in blankets as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. There is no word yet on where the residents will be relocated. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.