Rep. Paul Thissen voted to extend the provider tax today during a debate on the Omnibus Tax Bill.
“In a few short years, Minnesota will face a financial crisis when the funding we have relied upon for over two decades to provide health care for sick, older and working Minnesotans disappears. We have to face up to the reality that we either leave tens of thousands of Minnesotans who are too sick or too poor to afford good health care out in the cold and see hospitals around the state close, or cut into funding for schools and police, or raise taxes drastically. No one has offered an alternative to that choice. So while the health care access fund tax is not an ideal solution, I cannot leave people Minnesotans who need good health care out in the cold.”