Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin co-sponsored legislation that would create a public health insurance option, a policy that experts have warned could decimate rural hospitals in Michigan.
Slotkin, a House member, co-sponsored the Medicare-X Choice Act in 2019. The bill would "create a federal public option" for health insurance, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office.
While the proposal has yet to pass Congress, the public option policy has been panned by some health care and economic experts who say it would financially crush rural hospitals, potentially forcing many of them to close.
Slotkin, who is facing a highly competitive race against Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, has campaigned as a political moderate. But her support for policies such as a public health insurance option—while not as extreme as universal Medicare for All backed by the far left—shows she is also aligned with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party on health care issues.
Instituting a public option "could place as many as 55% of rural hospitals, or 1,037 hospitals across 46 states, at high risk of closure" by reducing the number of insurance reimbursements they receive, according to an analysis by Navigant Consulting Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.
A public option could put between 28 percent and 55 percent of rural hospitals "at high risk of closure," according to three scenarios laid out in the analysis. In Michigan, which has a reported 63 rural hospitals, this would translate to between 17 and 34 rural hospitals shutting their doors.
"The availability of a public option could negatively impact access to and quality of care through rural hospitals’ potential elimination of services and reduction of clinical and administrative staff, as well as damage the economic foundation of the communities these hospitals serve," the study said.
Michigan rural hospitals have already been struggling, with many of them shutting their doors in the past few years and nearly half of them in debt.
Slotkin is currently polling with a 4-point edge in the Michigan Senate election, but recent polling has indicated the race is tightening. The Senate race, which is open following the retirement of current Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D.), could determine party control of the upper chamber next year.