Senator Bayer Wants New State Panel Promoting Palliative Care Access

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/26/2025) Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Keego Harbor) wants Michigan to have a 13-member task force dedicated to expanding public access to "palliative care," the medical specialty dedicated to relieving the stress and symptoms of serious illnesses. 

According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, in 2014, around 90 million Americans lived with serious illness – a number expected to more than double over 25 years due to baby boomers aging. In 2010, the early use of palliative care among lung cancer patients was linked to them being less depressed and surviving 2.7 months longer.   

Stethoscope

Bayer's proposal, SB 483, passed in the Senate on Dec. 16 with no votes cast by Sens. Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon), Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton) and Jim Runestad (R-White Lake). It now sits on the House Government Operations Committee. 

"Too often, seriously ill people spend long stretches of their lives in pain and confusion and isolation. They could instead be surrounded by care and compassion and love. Palliative care does that by complementing treatment, managing symptoms and providing support tailored to each patient's needs," Bayer said to the Senate Health Policy Committee in early November. 

She explained that the task force would be composed of clinical experts, patient representatives, insurers and similar industry leaders. Together, they would develop "measurable strategies" to expand access and reimbursement models for palliative care.

Laura Haynes, the president of the Michigan HomeCare and Hospice Association, described the medical specialty as "deeply needed, but not yet uniformly available across our state."

"We know from experience that rural access remains a major challenge with palliative care. Many smaller communities have limited to no access to this care," Haynes said last month. "Palliative care is about quality of life. It's about helping people (live) as possible, for as long as possible, wherever they call home." 

Haynes illustrated how similar councils are operating in Texas, Maryland and Maine. In Maine specifically, she said, the council conducted a statewide needs assessment, helping design a state Medicaid benefit for the care. 

Another supporter of  SB 483 was Dr. Erin Young, the associate program director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship at Trinity Health Grand Rapids.

While hospice care is for individuals with limited life expectancy, Young explained, palliative care can serve those with possibly life-limiting illnesses who want "better symptom management." In her own practice, she listed how care can take place in a general outpatient clinic, a clinic embedded inside a cancer center and "home community visits." 

In October 2020, the National Library of Medicine published a report that, based on studies conducted from 2008 and 2018, palliative care for patients diagnosed with cancer reduced healthcare costs by $1,285 to $20,719 when received in the inpatient setting. When accessed in the home-based setting, costs dropped by $4,258. 

An opponent was April Donovan, an Upper Peninsula resident whose mother, Twila Apger, died at 84 years old while receiving hospice care at the start of 2020. Donavan claimed that medical records were falsified to place her mother in hospice care while she was in guardianship. 

Donovan said when she asked for her mother's autopsy, no one would tell her where her body was. 

"It's a long story, but in my opinion, there was fraud and her death was hastened by using palliative sedation when she was still talking, eating, drinking, and wasn't in pain prior to this," Donovan said. "Before expanding advisory structures, Michigan should first focus on auditing existing hospice programs, strengthening patient rights, and giving families a way to report harm and receive answers – ensuring that (families') voices are heard and respected."  

She said without safeguards, another state panel could "simply add bureaucracy while the same problems continue."