Five Michigan cities approve new citizen healthcare cost advisory boards
Voters in five Michigan cities, Benton Harbor, Lansing, East Lansing, Kalamazoo and Portage, approved charter amendments creating seven- or eight-member "citizens' advisory health action" committees to study healthcare costs, by margins ranging from 55% to 80%. The committees will hold public forums, track federal and state officials' votes on healthcare legislation, and must deliver a "Healthcare Action Plan" to city leaders by October 1 of each even-numbered year, with city councils holding public hearings by October 15. A liberal "dark money" nonprofit spent nearly $3 million on the campaigns, which were concentrated in two toss-up congressional districts represented by Republicans who lost reelection; funding sources and how the boards will function remain unclear. Local officials, including Kalamazoo's mayor and a city commissioner, raised concerns about ongoing costs to taxpayers and the use of undisclosed funding to drive the measures.