Car crash survivors and their supporters rallied at the state Capitol on Wednesday, as they've done nearly every Wednesday for the past three and a half years while the legislature is in session.
Survivors at the rally included Red Wings legend Vladimir Konstantinov, who was severely injured in a car crash just days after his team's 1997 Stanley Cup win, and Annabelle Marsh, a 5-year-old who was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a crash in 2021.
They once again urged the Legislature to fix the state's 2019 no-fault law, "for everyone."
The law slashed payments for home care, rehab treatment, and other medical care for the most severely injured car crash survivors in Michigan.
Many agencies and other providers closed up shop or stopped providing services for auto accident victims as a result, and thousands of people lost medically necessary care.
Last year, the state Court of Appeals said the law doesn't apply to survivors injured before 2019. Anne Manning — who has a spinal cord injury from a crash in 1980 — said as a result of that ruling, she is doing okay and still has services provided by her home care agency.
"Others not so much, because of the lack of care," she said. "It's despicable and I pray for a fix."
Manning said it's not fair that people are not getting necessary care simply because of when they were hurt.
Linda St. Amant echoed her sentiments. Her son David was severely hurt in a crash in 2003. She said she and David have been coming to the rallies not just to advocate for themselves.
"It has had devastating effects on the families, on caregivers — all the services have been cut drastically," said Amant.
David St. Amant added it has driven many skilled professionals out of the caregiver industry.
The Michigan Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on an appeal of the Court of Appeals ruling in the case, known as Andary, after the plaintiff who brought the lawsuit. If the Court finds that the law does not apply to people injured before 2019, that will still leave roughly 4,000 people catastrophically injured after that date without what providers say is medically necessary care.
About 1,000 people a year in Michigan are added to the rolls of the most severely injured crash survivors, according to the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association, an insurance-run organization that pays for medical care expenses over $600,000.
Barry Cargill, CEO of the Michigan Homecare and Hospice Association, said those people need care. "We need a fix to the law for all," he said.
Some survivors said they'd hoped that fix would have come by now, after the switch in control of the state legislature from Republicans to Democrats. Now, with the summer recess approaching, hopes for a fix turn to the next legislative session.
