The change left care agencies bleeding cash, families scrambling, and insurers quietly pocketing profits while claiming Medicare codes don’t apply to the round-the-clock care of severely injured crash victims. While the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the 2019 law didn’t apply to people injured before it took effect, caregivers tending to post-2019 crash survivors still saw their payments slashed by 45%.

Court to insurers – yes, Medicare codes exist.

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That gravy train for insurers hit a speed bump on October 20. The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that, yes, home-health aide and skilled-nursing care represented in the lawsuit does fall under Medicare coverage – and that means caregivers are entitled to the Medicare rates, not the bargain-bin rate insurers have been paying. The decision is binding on lower courts and, unless insurers can drag it to the Michigan Supreme Court, it’s the new law of the land.

Retroactive payback could sting.

The ruling could also force insurers to go back and reprocess years of underpayments – potentially reimbursing providers who’ve been shortchanged for years.

A lifeline for the people who actually do the work.

Tom Judd, executive director of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council said about the latest court decision, “This is another example of the courts really cleaning up the chaos and mess provided by the 2019 law that was hastily written and hastily passed. We hope the Legislature looks at these opinions and sees opportunities to clean up this system.”

The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA), the state’s trust fund that covers care for severely injured crash victims, voiced concern about the ruling and threatened the possibility of rising insurance costs for Michiganders.

Kimberly Bezy, executive director for the MCCA, in a statement said, “This is yet another example of the courts eroding the cost savings created by the 2019 reforms to Michigan’s auto no-fault system. As a result of court decisions like these, the cost of agency-provided in-home care and residential care continues to rise at a rate significantly higher than the rate of inflation, which puts enormous cost pressures on the system and could ultimately lead to higher costs for everyone.”