The county moved with urgency to direct opioid settlement funds to help addicts. But subsequent disagreement highlights a tension between law enforcement and treatment that will likely be repeated statewide.
Robin Erb
Robin Erb covers a range of health issues in Michigan, including the industry of aging and the issues facing older residents in Michigan, a state that is aging faster than most others. She joined Bridge in 2019 and has led investigations that tracked millions of dollars in opioid settlement money and explored severe worker shortages in health care that threaten lives and the state's economy. She chronicled the shock and grief of Michigan families in COVID’s wake, as well as state policy decisions and the triumphs of medical breakthroughs. Robin previously spent six years covering health at the Detroit Free Press, documenting the battle over, and the eventual passage of, the Affordable Care Act and Michigan's Medicaid expansion. She studied communications and political science at Miami University and has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lourdes University (Toledo, Ohio). She and her husband raised two wonderful children — but have failed miserably at training their Beagle-Bassets — in southeast Michigan. Reach her at rerb@bridgemi.com.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan won’t know how $725M is spent on opioids help. Other states do it better
Advocates slam ‘abysmal’ transparency surrounding opiods settlement in Michigan. Unlike many other states, Michigan set up few controls over how cities, counties spend their 50% share of the money.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan opioid cash sparks feeding frenzy of vendors, seeking cut of $1.5B
Local officials say there are ‘sharks in the water,’ as companies pitching everything from $7,400 vending machines to $200,000 body scanners seek contracts from the opioid settlement money coming to Michigan.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
As opioid deaths mount, Michigan governments sit on millions for intervention
A landmark lawsuit settlement will pour $1.5 billion into Michigan, almost half of it directly to communities. But local governments have been slow to spend the money, and transparency questions dog efforts to fight the drug scourge.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan mom sues for disability in latest U.S. legal battle over long COVID
Kelsey Warshefski, 41, said she’s suffered years of seizures, mini-strokes and fatigue. She can no longer run, work or romp with her son. She’s among a growing number of patients suing after disability claims were denied.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan disbands racial equity group as tension mounts over opioid money
The state spent $148,000 on a racial equity group to offer advice on how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds. But after issuing recommendations, the group said it was ‘silenced.’
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan’s $55M experiment with guaranteed income begins with Flint moms
Michigan will experiment with guaranteed income in Flint, one of its poorest cities, giving expectant and new moms $7,500 — no strings attached — to lift the stress of poverty from their newborns.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Flu, respiratory illnesses, other crud make this misery season in Michigan
Expect long wait times at doctor offices, clinics and emergency rooms, as influenza season is in full winter flower.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan Medicaid expanded to cover health workers you may not have heard of
Community health workers focus on people who, due to low incomes or other inequities, tend to have poorer health outcomes. The state is now expanding Medicaid to cover more of this work.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Detroit agency launches mobile mental health unit. Can it slow a revolving door?
Too many people in a mental health crisis end up in a hospital ER, where they rarely get the one-on-one or follow-up care they need. New mobile vans are designed to bring better care to people in distress before they spiral further.