Lapedis said more than 15,000 county residents will potentially become uninsured within the coming months, and the Health Project does not have the means to support any more coverage.<\/p>\n
The organization currently faces a financial deficit of $1.2 million. It will need the additional $2-4 million annually to continue the program. <\/p>\n
Currently, the project receives funding from four major sources. Washtenaw County provides $850,000 annually from its general funding, which includes taxpayer money. The county contributed an additional one-time payment of $450,000 this year. Trinity Health and Michigan Medicine also partner with the organization, along with one anonymous donor who provides a few hundred thousand dollars out-of-pocket annually to cover residents\u2019 medical expenses.<\/p>\n
A Washtenaw County Health Department spokesperson said while the department works closely with the Health Project, they don\u2019t provide the organization with any funding.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit helps county and Southeast Michigan low-income residents establish a health care plan. Of the residents the project serves, around 3,500 are on the Washtenaw Health Plan, which provides doctor and clinical visits, outpatient labs and x-rays and emergency room visits. That coverage is available to low-income people living in Washtenaw County who are not eligible for any other health insurance and whose income level is 217% below the poverty line, $33,961 and $11,935 per additional person.<\/p>\n
Lapedis approached county officials after Trump\u2019s cuts to discuss a path forward, requesting additional county funding while also exploring other sources of financial support. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need some sort of large source of funding that is likely either county funding, or state funding,\u201d Lapedis said. <\/p>\n
![\"Washtenaw](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LNB5NRKT2RCD3AM5FDIUSC3KM4.JPG\")
Katie Scott, newly-sworn Washtenaw County Commissioner for District 9, smiles during a meeting of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in Ann Arbor on Jan. 9, 2019.Jacob Hamilton<\/p>\n
Katie Scott, chair of the County Commission, is confident Lapedis and the county can find a path to viability.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my priorities on the board of commissioners, and as chair, is to make sure people continue to have healthcare access,\u201d said Scott, a Democrat representing District 9.<\/p>\n
Scott told MLive that while the county won\u2019t be able to make up for all the project\u2019s financial shortfalls, she\u2019s hopeful the board will prioritize its future. The commissioners are set to meet at a retreat in February, when they will discuss financial prioritizations and the Health Project\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n
The commissioner said a new tax has not yet been discussed. She said she is hopeful state and federal funding could be directed to the organization, though she is unsure whether that support will materialize. Washtenaw County residents have consistently paid taxes for various public services in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know people have millage fatigue,\u201d Scott said. \u201cBut I also think about what\u2019s happened in this county when millages are put up about services, it seems like people put these values into action… I think people understand that millages for services are a necessary thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She expects the board of commissioners to have a clearer plan of action within the next three months. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am hoping that we\u2019re going to come out of that retreat and we\u2019re going to have this renewed commitment to the Washtenaw Health Project,\u201d Scott said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – The Washtenaw County Health Project helps about 8,000 uninsured residents obtain health insurance and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-429886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}