Michigan law threatens ex-hockey star’s home care

Vladimir Konstantinov’s proper hand grips the Uno playing cards with a few of the identical energy he used to seize hockey sticks, and his left hand shortly lays a card or attracts one from a stack on his kitchen desk. On this spherical of the sport he performs for hours a day with playing cards he wears out in per week, the previous Detroit Purple Wings star gained handily, shook fingers with longtime nurse Pam Demanuel and smiled. Subsequent week, Konstantinov is at risk of shedding the round the clock care that has enabled him to stay residence at his suburban Detroit apartment. As a result of excessive prices of such care and adjustments to a Michigan regulation, he is perhaps moved to an establishment the place restraints or medicine can be essential to hold him protected. Konstantinov is the general public face of a predicament dealing with roughly 18,000 Michigan residents who’ve misplaced entry to a fund that paid for his or her limitless, lifetime medical look after traffic-related accidents and that each driver needed to pay into by regulation. A bipartisan change to the regulation, which had contributed to Michigan having the nation’s highest auto insurance coverage charges, took impact final summer season and left Konstantinov and the 1000’s of others who relied on it with worse choices. Confronted with the specter of shedding his 24/7 care, Konstantinov’s household has sought assist from the Legislature and public, beginning a GoFundMe to assist offset their vital bills and giving reporters a behind-the-scenes take a look at their lives.