Health care workers express outrage with legislators’ funding plan

The Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill, approved by a legislative conference committee last week, makes these cuts:

• $921 million by eliminating eligibility for Medical Assistance (Medicaid) for adults without children.

• $276 million by removing adults who make at least 125% of the federal poverty guideline from MinnesotaCare and providing them with waivers to purchase private insurance.

• $93 million from programs for people with disabilities.

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• $53 million in “savings” from moving the disabled into managed-care programs; and

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• $24 million from payments to personal care attendants.

“These cuts will result in more uncompensated care for our hospitals because more patients are under- or uninsured,” the Minnesota Nurses Association said. “Disabled and aged people will be forced out of their homes to much more expensive institutions and nursing homes.

“This bill does nothing to reform health care delivery or control health care costs. The bill also contains the Interstate Nurse Licensure Compact language, which MNA has opposed from the start because it puts patient safety at risk and lowers our nursing standards to the lowest common denominator.”

“Working families have already sacrificed enough to get this budget back on track,” said Kent Wilcox, a housekeeper at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul and the vice president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. “Instead of creating jobs to kickstart our economy, Republican politicians have chosen to cut off access to care for the disabled and poor and pinch pennies for the care of the elderly just to protect the richest 5% of Minnesotans from paying a dime more in income taxes.”

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“We urge the Governor to stand firm in the coming budget negotiations to ensure the needs of the elderly, the disabled, and working families are met,” said Julie Schnell, president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, which represents 15,000 health care workers. “We need a balanced approach to solving our state’s budget that includes asking Minnesota’s millionaires to pay their fair share to keep our state great.”

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