With reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm will include a $300 million tax on Michigan's health care system as part of her fiscal year 2010-11 state budget proposal, the 15,000-member Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) and 5,500-member Michigan Osteopathic Association (MOA) urged lawmakers to reject the new taxing scheme, just as they did less than six months ago.
This new tax would:
- Drive physicians and their practices out of Michigan, reducing access to care for all patients;
- Discourage young doctors from setting up practices in Michigan;
- Be the only tax of its kind recently passed by any state: two others have tried a similar tax and it's been rescinded in Kentucky and it's being phased out in West Virginia;
- Be the third general tax imposed on doctors, after the income and the Michigan Business Tax already paid by physicians;
- Force physicians to lay-off essential staff including nurses, office administrators or billing personnel, further reducing access to care and adding to Michigan's unemployment rate; and
- Not be a long-term solution to Michigan's chronically under-funded Medicaid program.
If you have questions, please contact Colin J. Ford, MSMS Director of State Government Affairs at 517-336-5737 or cford@msms.org.