Credit Tracy Samilton / Michigan Radio
Some companies that provide rehabilitation services for people catastrophically injured in car accidents are planning to shut their doors as of July 1.
That s when a 45% cut in medical reimbursements that was included in the 2019 changes to Michigan s auto insurance law takes effect. We can t absorb the 45% pay cut and stay in business, says Randal Bruce, President of Aspire Rehabilitation Services, a residential treatment center in Troy. The agency provides everything from housing to physical therapy to counseling. It s just impossible. We looked at everything we could, there s just no way to do it.
As of June 30, Aspire s 20 residents will need to find other places to live that can provide care for their traumatic injuries, and the company s 50 employees will be out of work.
Edward R. Murrow Awards in the Large Market Radio category. The station won awards in the Breaking News, Feature Reporting, Investigative Reporting, and News Series categories. The Murrow Awards are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) to honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism. The winning entries from Michigan Radio are as follows:
Breaking News. In May 2020 eight inches of rainfall caused two dams on the Titabawassee River in mid-Michigan to give way, flooding Midland and causing about 10,000 people to evacuate. Reporters Tracy Samilton, Lester Graham, Rick Pluta, and the
Stateside team covered the flood that caused huge amounts of damage, feared dioxin contamination, and debates over how the dams could have been kept in such ill repair.