Gov. Tim Pawlenty's plan to eliminate MinnesotaCare coverage for 47,000 workers is an unnecessary gamble that threatens their lives, the public's health, and will raise rather than reduce health insurance costs in the state, leaders of a revived health-care coalition said Wednesday.

Pawlenty's plan threatens people who are "holding down one or two jobs and doing their best to patch together some health security for themselves and their families," said Brian Rusche, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition.

Consider what eliminating health coverage would mean for Minnesota, which has placed No. 1 nationally in overall health rankings for 14 of the last 15 years, said Dr. Donald Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Hennepin Faculty Associates at Hennepin County Medical Center:

"Think of the individuals who are sicker. Think of a death rate that is higher," Jacobs said. "Think of the risk to our public health. To set public policy to take us from first to anything lower is poor policy. Individuals suffer and we all suffer."

Jacobs and Rusche spoke at a news conference, held at HCMC, organized by Minnesotans for Affordable Health Care, one of the coalitions that worked to create MinnesotaCare in the first place in the early 1990s. "We?re back," Rusche said. "This threat has brought us back together."

Donald Jacobs (left) and Brian Rusche said cuts to MinnesotaCare would be bad public policy. Union Advocate photos

Coalition members include two unions ? the Minnesota Nurses Association and SEIU Minnesota State Council ? plus the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, Legal Services Advocacy Project, Mental Health Association, Minnesota Hospital Association, and Minnesota Medical Association.

Increasing the number of uninsured
MinnesotaCare is a state-run insurance program for Minnesota workers who can't get or can't afford health insurance through their employer. Every worker enrolled in Minnesota Care pays a premium, based on income and family size.

The primary financing comes through the state's Health Care Access Fund, which is supported by a 2 percent tax on hospitals and other health-care providers, and a 1 percent tax on premiums charged by health maintenance organizations.

Pawlenty's proposal would make 47,000 single adults ineligible for MinnesotaCare beginning July 1, in an attempt to corral some of the state's soaring health-care costs. That's on top of 38,000 people thrown off the plan in 2003. It also comes at a time when the state's own figures show that the number of state residents without health insurance soared 29 percent in three years, and that half the state's private employers no longer offer health insurance for their workers.

Higher costs at hospitals
Jacobs challenged the belief that eliminating access to health insurance somehow reduces costs. In reality, he said, it raises costs overall. Evidence shows that people who are not insured are more likely to skip preventative care, regular check-ups and screenings, and to quit taking medications for chronic conditions, he said. All those behaviors mean that when uninsured people finally do show up for medical care, they're more likely to need hospitalization and other, more-expensive treatment.

Reducing the number of residents with health insurance also increases the financial strain on the state's hospitals, Jacobs said, which have seen the amount of uncompensated care they provide rise by 30 percent in the past year alone ? a result he blamed in part on the Pawlenty administration?s cutbacks in state health-insurance programs.

MinnesotaCare runs surplus
What's worse, Jacobs stressed, is that the cuts are unnecessary, because MinnesotaCare itself is solvent and not in financial crisis.

In fact, he said, the Pawlenty administration has transferred more than $300 million out of the Access Fund over the past three years to help patch ongoing deficits in the state's General Fund.

Even with that money being siphoned off, the Access Fund is projected to continue running surpluses ? $266 million by 2007, $770 million by 2009. That means there's more than enough money to continue coverage for the people Pawlenty wants to throw off the plan this year, Jacobs said, and to restore coverage to those who lost coverage or had benefits reduced in 2003.

What happened to rewarding work?
Rusche called Pawlenty's plan "simply wrong." He said it violates fundamental values that should reward work and self-sufficiency and encourage neighbors helping neighbors.

Emphasizing the impact of Pawlenty's plan on real people is one of the goals of the health-care coalition, which also launched an advertising campaign Wednesday, primarily in newspapers in Greater Minnesota. It promised additional actions and activities until the Legislature adjourns.

"This needs to be about the choices and consequences of our health-care policies in Minnesota," Rusche said. Rather than let the end of the legislative session turn into "an exercise for accountants and budget experts," he said, the coalition hopes to show the fallout from simply pushing large numbers around. "We have real human beings with health care at stake," he said.

Michael Kuchta edits the St. Paul Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL-CIO. E-mail him at advocate@mtn.org

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