Former Detroit Red Wings star Vladimir Konstantinov is in danger of losing the round-the-clock medical care he has had since he nearly died in a 1997 limousine crash because of a bipartisan state law aimed at lowering car insurance prices.
Konstantinov was 30 years old and coming off a championship season in which he was voted runner-up as the NHL's best defenseman when his limo driver crashed on June 13, 1997, ending his career and changing his life forever. His friend and teammate Slava Fetisov, another member of the Red Wings' vaunted Russian Five, was also in the limo but didn't suffer career-threatening injuries.
Although the law lowered Michigan car insurance premiums to a degree and led the state to issue $400 per-vehicle refunds during an election year, it left Konstantinov and others like him facing the prospect of losing the constant care they need. Reimbursements for certain post-acute services under the new law were reduced to 55% of 2019 levels, which home care agencies say is financially unsustainable.
Anastasia Konstantinov started a GoFundMe three years ago to help pay for her father's care, but it has raised less than 10% of its $250,000 goal. The Red Wings and NHL Players’ Association are also exploring ways to help maintain Konstantinov's home care. Few if any of the others affected by the change in the law have Konstantinov's notoriety in Michigan, though, and many are also struggling to come up with the money to keep their round-the-clock home care.
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