IN TRAVERSE CITY: Governor signs insurance education directive at Munson

TRAVERSE CITY — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive Friday at Munson Medical Center that is aimed at educating the public about health insurance.

Whitmer came to the Cowell Family Cancer Center to take the action, which tasks the state’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services to support access to affordable health insurance.

Specifically, the directive asks the department to raise awareness and educate residents as to what they need to do during this Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.

Liz Monk, director of system of case management at Munson Healthcare, said her team works directly with patients every day and said they face “very deep challenges.”

The directive addresses actions by Republicans in Washington, D.C., that make it harder for people to get and keep their health insurance, according to Whitmer.

Republicans are ending the enhanced benefit for ACA that will raise the cost of health care by $700 per individual or roughly $2,400 for a family of four.

Whitmer said the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress has taken a “wrecking ball” to affordable health care that will require people to “jump through more hoops.”

“Altogether, their policy is to increase out-of-pocket premiums by more than 75% and force over 4 million people off of their insurance nationwide,” she said.

In Michigan, families could see insurance costs go up $400 a month, Whitmer said, adding that “very few families can absorb that.”

Requests for comment from local lawmakers were not returned in time for inclusion in this story.

To combat this, her directive will raise awareness about the changes and ensure Michiganders can get their questions answered about ACA coverage, by the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) or Health Insurance Navigators, with the goal that more families will be able to maintain coverage without breaking the bank.

Monk said the Affordable Care Act gave people more access, but there were enrollment and eligibility barriers.

“Access to health insurance is important to our rural health care populations because it saves lives,” she said.

The governor said she chose to sign the directive in Traverse City to draw attention to the needs of the rural community.

“I think that, as we talk about increasing access to health insurance, it’s a lot of the rural communities that I have heightened concern about, with regard to what happened with the big bill in Congress,” Whitmer said.

People in the area are going to be “tremendously impacted by the changes that came out of Washington, D.C.,” the governor said.

Making sure that people in this region are aware of the tools available to them through the department was a big part of the reason she said she chose to sign the directive here.

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