Accessibility menu
State Representative Patti Fritz
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-8237
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
NEWS COLUMN
EVERY MINNESOTAN DESERVES HEALTH CARE
Two weeks ago, the Minnesota Children's Defense Fund issued a report on children's health in Minnesota. According to the report, the number of uninsured children grew from about 56,000 in 2001 to 68,000 in 2004. Among children younger than 5, those without coverage grew from 4 to 7 percent during that period, with an even higher percentage of uninsured kids – close to 10 percent – in rural parts of the state.
The researchers said a number of factors were to blame, but mostly they pointed to skyrocketing costs for insurance in the private market and reductions in access to state health-care programs like MinnesotaCare, which provides low cost coverage for working families.
Another problem was the added number of hoops and hurdles families have to jump through to qualify for subsidized insurance programs. The report indicated that many families who could qualify don't make it through the maze of forms and red tape now required to get coverage. It also doesn't help that the state and counties have cut the number of workers who would help families navigate the process.
Last week, a report published by the Commonwealth fund, a health care policy foundation, said that the percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes without health insurance in 2005 was 41 percent. That's an increase of 28 percent since 2001. Even more troubling is that more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or going into debt to do so. It also found that people without health insurance were more likely to forgo recommended health screenings than people with insurance.
Minnesota isn't immune to this problem. Between 2001 and 2004, the number of uninsured working Minnesotans also increased by 28 percent. Add this to the recent report that there are 68,000 Minnesota children without health insurance, and it's clear to see we have a crisis at hand.
On Monday, the House passed the Deficiency and Supplemental Budget Bill. I supported an amendment to the bill offered by Rep. Tom Huntley (DFL-Duluth) that would have used money in the health care access fund to expand eligibility and benefits for MinnesotaCare. This state health insurance program was designed for working adults who do not have access to health care through their employer.
This amendment makes good sense to me. The health care access fund was created for just this purpose, to expand health care coverage for Minnesotans. Yet, over the past years, money from this fund has been used to balance the budget instead. However, the amendment did not pass, leaving this session's budget bill with no funding for health care.
Minnesota has a rich history of providing health care coverage for its citizens. These two reports are a clear indication that things have changed, and we are now heading in the wrong direction. We had the opportunity to address this issue in a significant manner in the budget bill, using money in the health care access fund for what it's intended-health care. Instead, we will leave this session with no answer to the thousands of Minnesotans who delay going to the doctor when they are sick, skip routine health screenings or use the Emergency Room as their only source of medical care.
We need a new direction on health care in Minnesota. I'm hopeful the Conference Committee on this bill will give us the opportunity to address this issue in a meaningful manner yet this session.
If you have questions or feedback about any of these issues, please feel free to contact me. You can call me at 1-800-292-0012, write to me at 239 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155 or email me at rep.patti.fritz@house.mn.
News Items
- STATE REP. PATTI FRITZ PARTICIPATES IN START OF LEGISLATIVE SESSION - (Posted: Jan 9 2013 3:32PM)
- Rep. Fritz: Homeowners, Farmers Need Property Tax Relief - (Posted: 2012-05-01 00:00:00)
- Rep. Fritz: Let’s Vote on a Bonding Bill that Benefits All - (Posted: 2012-04-19 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.