Public Policy Advocacy

There are 470,000 children living with epilepsy in the U.S.; nearly 14,000 of them live in Michigan. Despite the prevalence, epilepsy is still highly misunderstood by the public. For students living with epilepsy, it is important that schools are well-equipped with the tools necessary to provide a safe and enriching environment.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the opportunity for academic success is increased when communities, schools, families, and students work together to meet the needs of students with chronic health conditions and provide safe and supportive learning environments. Direct access to school nursing and other health services, as well as disease-specific education, has been shown to improve health and academic outcomes among students with chronic health conditions.

Together with the nationwide initiative led by the Epilepsy Foundation, the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan has launched efforts to make Michigan a “Seizure Safe School” State. On June 24, 2025, Senate Bill 434, affectionately known as the Seizure Safe Schools Act, was introduced by Primary Sponsor Senator John Cherry (District 27), alongside Senators Veronica Klinefelt (District 11), Jeremy Moss (District 7), Rosemary Bayer (District 13) and Stephanie Chang (District 3) and was referred to the Committee on Health Policy.

SB 434 has four key components:

1. Requiring school personnel to complete a seizure recognition and first-aid response training
2. Mandating that the Seizure Action Plan is made part of the student’s file and made available for school personnel and volunteers responsible for the student
3. Ensuring that any FDA-approved medication prescribed by the treating physician is administered to the student living with epilepsy
4. Good Samaritan clause

Learn more about Seizure Safe Schools.

Download toolkit to advocate for this bill.

Lead sponsor: Senator John Cherry

Every state regulates driver’s license eligibility of persons with certain medical conditions such as seizures. State driver laws are written to protect public safety and to grant the privilege of driving to people who are the least likely to have an accident. To get a driver’s license in most U.S. states, a person with epilepsy must be free of seizures that affect consciousness for a certain period of time. The seizure-free period varies from state to state.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan supports House Bills 4306 and 4307 because they balance the need to protect public and individual safety while promoting independence of certain people with epilepsy and seizures for whom it’s safest to drive. In line with a consensus statement from the American Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society and the Epilepsy Foundation on driver licensing and epilepsy, this bill:

• Relies on a seizure-free interval of 3 months or more;
• Specifies certain favorable modifiers that could alter the interval such as the seizure occurred because of a medically directed medication change; it was a partial seizure that did not interfere with the individual’s consciousness or ability to operate a motor vehicle; and the seizure has an established pattern of being purely nocturnal;
• Maintains the treating physician’s role to providing pertinent medical facts through submission of a statement of physical or mental history so that an independent decision can be made; and
• Provides notice and opportunity for a hearing before an individual’s license is suspended.

We thank Rep. Curt VanderWall and Rep. Nancy DeBoer for their leadership on this issue and offer the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan’s support for House Bills 4306 and 4307, which aim to help as many people with epilepsy as possible remain independent and drive safely.

Learn more about the State of Michigan Driving Laws.

In 2004, the Legislature enacted a law that Michigan Medicaid could not subject medications for the high-risk conditions of mental illness, epilepsy, HIV-AIDS, cancer, and organ replacement to prior authorization. Potential delays often last at least two months and require a consumer to fail on two other “preferred” medications before possibly getting the one that the doctor originally prescribed. The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan does not support pre-authorization programs because of the possible delays in treatment.

We believe that treatment decisions should be made by the physician in partnership with the patient.  Therefore, we are advocating for permanent protection of the epilepsy medications in the Medicaid formulary from pre-authorization requirements.

Thanks to the tireless advocacy efforts of our organization in conjunction with our lead sponsor Sen. Curtis Hertel, the epilepsy community, and countless other companies, non-profit organizations and advocates, Senate Bill 412 was signed into law in March 2022 by Governor Gretchen Whitmer!  SB 412 is now Public Act 19 of 2022.  This piece of legislation now codifies epilepsy medications as a protected drug class for those on Michigan Medicaid, along with medications for the treatment of cancer, mental health, HIV-Aids, and organ transplant.  In short, patients on Michigan Medicaid who are being treated with epilepsy medications will never be subject to onerous and unsafe step-therapy or prior authorization processes.

Championed by Representative Mike McFall, HB 5339 will ensure step therapy protocols are based on widely accepted medical and clinical guidelines.

H.B. 5339 will create an accessible and convenient way for providers to request a medical exception for their patients and establish a clear and expedited process for insurers and PBMs to respond so that treatment is not delayed.

View the Michigan for Patient Access Step Therapy Handout.

Copay assistance is financial assistance typically provided by drug manufacturers or nonprofit organizations to help Michigan patients afford their medication and health care services.

Insurers have created programs called copay accumulator programs that prevent copay assistance from counting towards a patient’s deductible or maximum out of pocket requirement. Insurers collect copay assistance, but once it runs out they still require the patient to pay the full deductible and out-of-pocket costs. We do not support this practice and seek to see change.

Critical reform is needed to help patients access critical treatment by ensuring all payments—made by the patient or on behalf of the patient—count towards the patient’s annual deductible and out-of-pocket costs.

Learn more about this issue from our Michigan All Copays Count position paper.

Legislation can be viewed here.

Please join us in supporting HB 4213 which would seek to codify current Medicaid and Health Michigan Plan policies regarding telehealth. The legislation ensures continued reimbursement for audio-only telehealth services. For many remote areas and those that have no or limited access to strong broadband internet, audio-only telemedicine visits continue to be utilized by the epilepsy community.