From left, Dr. Kristen Husted McCoy, Bernadett Maggio, and Julie A. Bise plan a 63 mile walk from Independence Township to Lansing to advocate for auto insurance catastrophic medical coverage. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Almost 50 years ago, Julie Bise’s mother fought for handicap access in Michigan. Now Bise is taking up the mantle, organizing a walk from Clarkston to Lansing to protest the new state auto insurance law.
“I’m walking 63 miles in honor of my mother. If she could spend endless hours in a wheelchair sitting in front of the Capitol, I can walk 63 miles to help build awareness,” said Bise, a registered nurse. “This concerns all of us. I have patients bedridden with tramautic brain injuries who would become homeless without care.”
“Medicare doesn’t cover enough,” said Dr. Kristen Husted McCoy, who is helping organize the walk. “If it goes away, there’s no place to care for these people. It’s back to square one.”
The walk will start at Anytime Fitness on Dixie Highway next to Neiman’s, where Bise exercises, at 9 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 23. They’ll head up Dixie Highway, take a left at Davisburg Road and continue on secondary streets to Lansing, arriving at the Capitol in time for the MI Auto Insurance Promise March and Rally on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
They’re organizing water and snack stops about every five miles, and participants are welcome to join in relays or walk the whole way.
McCoy, program director for Communicare Michigan, said she was happy to join the effort.
“If it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t help,” she said.
This walk, rally, and march are to spread awareness of the new Michigan No-Fault auto insurance law passed by the Republican-controlled state Senate and House, and signed by Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this past May.
The law was approved to reduce unregulated and out-of-control auto insurance premiums, and save money for drivers who opt out of some or all no-fault medical benefits.
Marchers say the law strips current post-acute rehabilitation and home medical care from catastrophically injured victims, denying them the right to recover, and results in higher premium cost.
“What has awarded for decades is now potentially wiped away,” said Bise, Clarkston resident for 32 years and president of Countryview Case Management.
“The goal is to get them to fix the fix,” McCoy said.
Bise’s mother, Nancy Johnson-Jachim, was a victim of an auto accident in the early 1970’s, and was left to recover while caring for four small children
“Unfortunately there was nothing at that time to assist with her recovery,” she said.
Her mother, who passed away in 2011, worked with Gov. William Milliken to pass the Michigan Disabilities Act, and served on several committees to ensure those with disabilities were accepted into schools, work place, and society.
“I look back at how hard she fought, and now they decided to take it away and go back,” Bise said. “My hope is that she looks down on me and says, ‘you go girl.'”
Marchers are calling for an audit by the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association, repeal of the law, create a special auto no fault committee in the House, comprehensive review of the law at public hearings, and full review of any new proposed bill with full public debate.
The governor said she is willing to talk to the marchers and hear them out, Bise said.
All are welcome to join in the walk from Clarkston, though they ask people to sign up first. For more information, call Bice at 248-922-5700.