DFL plan would blunt cuts to health care

04/26/2005

Patricia Lopez, Star Tribune
April 26, 2005

House DFLers say they can preserve health care coverage for 30,000 working Minnesotans, lift a $5,000 outpatient cap on MinnesotaCare, increase pay raises for nursing home workers, avoid raising the health care provider tax and more—all for a 50-cent-per-pack “fee” on cigarettes.

The proposal, released Monday, also would preserve the $200 million Health Care Access Fund, which is dedicated to MinnesotaCare and which comes from the provider tax. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and House Republicans would use that money to pay for other health-related programs—such as General Assistance Medical Care—now paid by the general fund.

Pawlenty’s proposal rolls back eligibility for MinnesotaCare, the state’s subsidized health insurance program for lower-income working Minnesotans.

Pawlenty has said that the state must bring its rising health care costs under control and that the state program is overly generous.

DFLers contend that throwing people off health insurance would produce rising costs, resulting from more charity care for hospitals and more severe medical conditions that would result in higher premiums for consumers as costs shift to those with insurance.

“We don’t believe that to solve the health care crisis you have to kick people off of health care,” said Rep. Tom Huntley, of Duluth, the lead DFLer on the House Health Policy and Finance Committee.

By raising the wholesale fees on cigarettes by 50 cents per pack, trimming state consultant contracts and some other cost reductions, Huntley said, “we can save MinnesotaCare.” In addition, he said, the DFL plan would keep the health care provider tax at 1.5 percent, instead of allowing it to rise to 2 percent, as the GOP plan does.

Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester, chairman of the health policy committee, said that the DFLers’ “numbers don’t work. I wish they did.”

The cigarette fee, he said, would raise $268 million, violating a self-imposed House cap on spending for the 2006-07 budget period. The House first would have to vote to alter the resolution before it could address the cigarette fee, he said.

A proposed increase of MinnesotaCare premiums would raise closer to $4 million rather than the $20 million cited by House DFLers, Bradley said.

“It’s hard to get very serious about a plan like this, but I’m going to take a hard look at it, and if there’s anything here we can work with, we will,” he said.

House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, said he is negotiating with GOP leaders in the closely divided House on bills that “they need votes for.”

Asked whether he was offering to trade votes on the House Republican casino proposal to put slots at Canterbury Park racetrack, Entenza said only that some Republican bills would have “a difficult time passing,” without DFL votes.