Michigan Health Department Gets Shout Out on John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’

In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight on the the Medicare system in the U.S., John Oliver praised the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

A few years ago, MDHHS launched streamlined renewal forms making it simpler for approximately two million Michigan residents keep critical benefits during COVID-19.

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The collaboration between MDHHS and Detroit non-profit Civilla called Project Re: New spans the department’s four largest assistance programs: food, health care, childcare, and cash assistance.

MDHHS said in a release at the time, the changes would help them serve Michigan residents better and faster during the COVID-19 pandemic by cutting the amount of time clients spent filling out the form, reducing error rates, and helping caseworkers process applications in less time.

Michigan was the first state to have this kind of streamlined application and renewal.

On the April 14 episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver mentions these projects streamlined paperwork and processes for millions of individuals seeking assistance.

The segment on Michigan starts at about the 23:28 mark in the video below.

Oliver notes that the program resulted in a 60 percent drop in user errors and 95 percent of renewals being submitted on time.

It's nice to see the state getting mentioned for something positive on the show, as that has not been been the case in the past. Back in 2016, Michigan showed up on the show in a segment about the Flint water crisis. In 2021, John Oliver highlighted Michigan families affected by PFAS.