The Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to end the lifetime health insurance benefits that state legislators currently become eligible for after six years in office. Gov. Jennifer Granholm called for an end to those benefits in a speech last week and urged the Republican-led Senate to follow the House’s lead in doing so.

This issue is more symbolic than anything else. The state pays less than $5 million a year in benefits for retired legislators – or about 3 one-thousandths of a percent of the $1.8 billion deficit the state faces next year.