Large coalition pushes for universal health care in 2009 legislative session

The coalition of groups, which together represent more than 350,000 Minnesotans, launched its "Make Health Happen" campaign to reform the state\’s health care system. The Minnesota Legislature began its 2009 session Tuesday.

About 375,000 Minnesotans, including 77,000 children, currently do hot have health coverage. Thousands more fall into the category of "under-insured," meaning they face excessive out-of-pocket costs for medical procedures or prescription drugs.

The effects of having so many of the state\’s residents uninsured or under-insured are felt throughout Minnesota\’s economy and in its neighborhoods and homes.

Health care bills, speakers said, are at the core of about half of all foreclosures and are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., where businesses struggle to compete on a global level against companies from countries where government provides health care coverage.

A report released last year estimated that more than three Minnesotans die each week because they don\’t have health coverage. As the economy slips deeper into a recession, those numbers likely will increase.

Elizabeth Stockton	Tee McClenty

At the press conference, Elizabeth Stockton, a registered nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, and Tee McClenty, an emergency room technician at St. John\’s in Maplewood, gave reports from the front line of Minnesota\’s health care system.

Stockton, a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association, recounted "heartbreaking conversations" she\’s had with patients who return to the hospital again and again with congestive heart failure because they haven\’t taken their prescribed medication.

"How do you respond to a patient when they tell you that they must choose between refilling their prescriptions and buying food?" Stockton asked. "Every shift I see how broken our health care system has become, and yet it is only getting worse."

McClenty, an executive board member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, said she sees increasing number of uninsured people using the emergency room for primary care – and an increasing number of under-insured people left reeling by out-of-pocket costs for emergency care.

"I love caring for patients who walk through the emergency room, but I\’m tired of our health care system forcing families to use the emergency room because it\’s the only place they can get care," McClenty said. "I\’m also tired of seeing families bankrupted by necessary medical bills."

The primary goal of the "Make Health Happen" campaign is passage of the Minnesota Health Security Act, introduced in both the House and Senate on the same day as the press conference.

The Minnesota Health Security Act would address the state\’s health care crisis in two phases, said Sen. Tony Lourey, the bill\’s chief Senate sponsor. First, it would mandate that all children in Minnesota be covered by 2010.

Vanessa Manrique, with her daughter, Amelia, described her difficulties in finding health insurance. Workday Minnesota photos

That\’s a change Forest Lake resident Vanessa Manrique, 25, would welcome. Manrique turned to the county for insurance two years ago after being denied coverage by private insurers.

"I called every health insurer possible, and they all denied me because I had pre-existing condition, which was a baby inside of me," Manrique said.

Manrique lost her county-provided insurance six weeks after giving birth, and her daughter, Amelia, will lose her coverage in March, when she turns two. Manrique said she and her husband cannot afford private alternatives.

"The cheapest (we found) was $300 a month with a $5,700 deductible, and still it would only cover 80 percent," Manrique said. "I think there needs to be a better way."

Phase II of the Minnesota Health Security Act, which spans a less specific timetable, would extend that coverage to adults.

Lourey emphasized that coverage would be free and comprehensive, meaning it would include dental care, vision and mental health coverage.

The price of covering all state residents will be high, speakers at the press conference acknowledged. But the cost of doing allowing the health care crisis to worsen – particularly during a recession – is far higher, said Jim Koppel, director of the Minnesota Children\’s Defense Fund.

"When we talk about great institutions like education, we pay for it," Koppel said. "We don\’t ask how, because education is a core value in our society. Health care is also a core value in our society, and we have failed to recognize that."

Partners in the "Make Health Happen" coalition include the Minnesota AFL-CIO, TakeAction Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5, the Children\’s Defense Fund Minnesota, Education Minnesota, ISAIAH, the Minnesota Nurses Association and the SEIU Minnesota State Council.

Michael Moore edits The St. Paul Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Visit the federation\’s website, http://mn.aflcio.org/stpaulunions/