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State Representative Jim Abeler
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-1729
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
OP/ED COLUMN
"Trouble is, it comes with a cost."
Don’t Turn Back on Health Reform
Earlier this month, Governor Pawlenty officially announced that Minnesota will not transfer low-income Minnesotans from state-based health programs to federal Medicaid during his administration. However, the next governor will again have the choice of whether Minnesota will take part in the early MA expansion portion of the federal health care bill. That makes this topic a campaign issue, and one that the people—the voters and the ones paying the bills—must understand.
We suggest a little closer look “under the hood” before the state buy into what could be a lemon. Our concerns include the cost and added budget burden, the loss of a breakthrough GAMC reform package passed just months ago, and the expansion’s lax eligibility standards.
The Cost. Because it is a “matched cost” program, Minnesota would have to pay to receive the federal funds, which some consider “free.” This “free lunch” would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars through 2014, money we don’t have. And remember that the federal deficit is $1.5 trillion, a new record. The Feds have habitually made promises they cannot keep. Now, as we face our own $6 billion projected deficit in the next 2 year budget cycle, to commit the state to more new spending is irresponsible and unsustainable.
To expect that this program can actually be paid for without asking more of taxpayers—or sacrificing other core programs and commitments—is unrealistic. Costs will shift from the federal government to the state governments, and eventually land on the taxpayers and private insurance policy holders already struggling to find economic recovery.
There is no free lunch, and we will have to face this fact sooner or later.
Undoing Reform. Earlier this year Governor Pawlenty and bipartisan legislative leadership reached an innovative agreement to reform GAMC. It created Coordinated Care Delivery Systems to improve care quality and effectiveness while saving taxpayers $700 million. In April, four Twin City hospitals signed on, creating the backbone of a metro system that started June 1. The final legislative session agreement enhanced the GAMC reform to enable more rural hospitals to participate.
For the first time, the vulnerable GAMC population is having their care coordinated, with an emphasis on prevention. By contrast, under the proposed MA expansion plan, those valuable reforms and improved patient outcomes would be repealed and replaced with the previous ineffective and very costly system. Costs would again go through the roof and quality would suffer.
Instead of opting-in to expensive, unreliable federal programs we should continue with the innovative reform solutions developed right here in Minnesota. We must be leaders, not followers. There will certainly be start-up glitches, but that is always true of ground-breaking innovation. Too much is at stake to abandon our efforts at serving patients in better ways with less cost.
Lax Standards. The new uninsured MA enrollees would only have to show “intent” to live in Minnesota and face no asset or other eligibility test other than being low-income, a major change from current standards. This means that anyone—whether they actually live in Minnesota or not, and whether they actually need publicly provided health care, even those who work for cash or fraudulently underreport their incomes—could put Minnesota taxpayers on the hook for 50% of their health care costs.
Our current standards for MA eligibility include assessing family need, residency status, and asset limits. The expansion plan has no such requirements. This would undo President Clinton’s welfare reform by placing able-bodied men and women back on state rolls. This is hardly the accountability or transparency our public programs need or our taxpayers deserve.
The Challenge. With massive deficits facing our state as far as the eye can see, we have no choice but to contain our state health program costs while improving quality. If we fail, soon all our budget growth will be directed to unrestrained health costs. There will be nothing left for K12 education, college funding, the environment, public safety, and other important services Minnesotans have come to expect. But like all challenges, this one is also an opportunity to instead forge a new path and deliver the positive results our citizens expect.
Jim Abeler
State Representative, Anoka
Warren Limmer
State Senator, Maple Grove
News Items
- State Rep. Jim Abeler Responds to Early MA Expansion - (Posted: 2011-01-05 00:00:00)
- Representative Jim Abeler Named Health & Human Services Committee Chair - (Posted: 2010-11-17 00:00:00)
- "Trouble is, it comes with a cost." - (Posted: 2010-07-06 00:00:00)
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