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State Representative Thomas Huntley
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2228
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
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HOUSE HEALTH CARE BUDGET REFLECTS PRIORITIES Jobs, hospitals, nursing homes, and vulnerable Minnesotans protected
St. Paul, MN – The House Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee passed legislation Tuesday night that protects Minnesota’s most vulnerable citizens, hospitals and nursing homes, saves important health care jobs, and proposes sweeping reform measures designed to improve access to health care, reduce costs and maximize federal funding.
The HHS budget proposal is the final piece of a balanced budget plan put forward by the House. It includes an additional $302 million in cuts and $408 million in federal dollars made available in the recently enacted federal health care reform legislation. The plan reduces the deficit in the next biennium by over $1 billion.
State Rep. Tom Huntley, chair of the committee, said the spending cuts in this budget bill were painful to make, especially because of the deep cuts to the HHS budget over recent years. According to Huntley, if the proposal passed Tuesday night is enacted, cuts to health and human services will exceed $2 billion for this biennium, a disproportionate share of overall budget cuts.
“There is simply no good way to cut this already thin budget without causing pain somewhere," said Huntley. “We chose to protect the poorest and sickest Minnesotans, health care providers, senior citizens and people with disabilities.”
No cuts were made to nursing homes in the House plan, while the Governor’s budget includes a permanent 2.5% cut. Hospitals were also protected from cuts this year.
The proposal rejects the Governor’s elimination of General Assistance, a $203 monthly payment that has not been increased in 24 years. The bill maintains MinnesotaCare coverage for 35,000 adults without children who would have lost their coverage under the Governor’s plan.
The plan leverages over $1 billion in new federal dollars with an early Medical Assistance (MA) option that will cover General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) recipients and a portion of those on MinnesotaCare. This option not only offers significantly improved funding for care providers, it also captures funds for Minnesota that would otherwise go to Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York or any of the other 10 state eligible for this option.
“The Governor expressed support for the early MA option earlier this session, but indicated the high cost in the out-years would have to be fixed before he would sign it into law,” said Huntley. “By holding the Health Care Access Fund deficit at its current level, we not only drastically reduced those tails, we have also given ourselves time to fully consider the new federal health care bill and possibly eliminate the provider tax in the near future.”
The legislation includes funding to provide MinnesotaCare to voluntary firefighters, increased funding for rural pharmacies and improved access to dental care for low-income Minnesotans. Hospital rebasing for MA will move forward, reimbursing hospitals for the actual cost of treating patients instead of the 2006 funding level they are presently receiving. Not only were the Governor’s additional cuts to State Operated Services (SOS) not adopted, additional funding was provided to SOS facilities. As a result, hundreds of jobs across the state will be protected.
Cuts in funding for counties, specialized physicians, and one-time mental health grants are included in the proposal. An additional $8 million is cut from agency administration, which should primarily affect political appointees and management.
To partially offset a 20% increase in HMO payments mandated by the early MA option, a HMO surcharge is included in the bill. Huntley indicated this is a fair way to recapture the windfall HMO’s will receive, and is very similar to a proposal supported by the Governor and GOP House leaders in 2003.
“We are optimistic that by using a funding mechanism the Governor has supported in the past, we can increase the possibility he will sign this legislation into law,” said Huntley.
Included among the reform measures is reconvening of the Governor’s Transformation Task Force, specifically for the purpose of maximizing the benefits of the federal health care bill. A health care exchange designed to increase access to affordable health care will be created, the role of health care homes will be expanded, and unnecessary costs at DHS will be reduced by eliminating duplicative studies and reports and reforming the procedures for fiscal notes.
Huntley said he understands there are some provisions in this bill that will likely meet resistance from the Governor, but the final product represents hard work, tough decisions, and the harsh reality of years of unfair cuts to health care.
“The Governor will have to decide what comes first – the well-being of the poorest and sickest Minnesotans, health care providers, senior citizens and people with disabilities, or his national political ambitions,” said Huntley.
News Items
- Rep. Huntley on Upholding of the Affordable Care Act by the Supreme Court - (Posted: 2012-06-28 00:00:00)
- Two Year Anniversary: Affordable Care Act Puts Minnesotans First - (Posted: 2012-03-23 00:00:00)
- Huntley, Murphy, and Lourey Join Nearly 500 Legislators Across U.S. to Defend Constitutionality of Affordable Care Act - (Posted: 2012-01-12 00:00:00)
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