In 2008 I supported Minnesota’s historic health care reform act. This was a bipartisan set of reforms with the support of business, labor, conservatives, progressives and moderates alike. The cost-savings from those reforms are just now beginning to kick in, and should continue to pay off for families, small businesses and the government as we move forward.
With the historic deficits we faced in 2009 and 2010, I worked to prioritize nursing homes, minimize the impact of health care costs on families, preserve the health care access fund for its intended purpose and maximize the impact of federal dollars coming to our state.
This final goal was probably the greatest possible success in the 2010 session. Minnesota was given an opportunity to expand access to Medicaid for people previously covered with state funds—originally a Republican proposal. Our participation in this expansion of Medicaid will bring more than $1 billion of our own taxes back to Minnesota to help reimburse hospitals for the care they are already providing. This will save approximately 20,000 jobs and keep health care premiums low.
The Governor has not agreed to take advantage of this yet. I hope he will. However, our next Governor will have the opportunity to enroll by executive order by January 15, 2011. Since Fairview Ridges is the largest private employer in our community it is very important that we support a Governor who will take advantage of this opportunity and save jobs in our community.
A recent report from Families USA states that more than 1
million Minnesotans are paying more than 10% of their income before taxes on
health care. 400,000 of those
million are paying more than 25% of their income on health care.
The skyrocketing costs of health care have been hurting middle class
working families and businesses—especially small business owners—for too
long now. The status quo is not
working. We know we need to do
something to reform our system.
In 2008 I helped pass the most significant health care
reform package in recent history. This
bi-partisan reform package (to see a list of Senators and House members who
voted for it, check the ad purchased by AARP in the July 9, 2008 Star Tribune)
took a dramatic step in the right direction to help more Minnesotans get access
to quality care, and to reduce the growth in the cost of providing that care.
The reform package was threefold. First it expanded access to health care for working families.
Currently, approximately 93% of Minnesotans have health coverage.
This number will grow to an estimated 96% by 2011 as the result of this
year’s reforms and the work we did in 2007.
By expanding access we reduce the number of people who must seek health
care the most expensive and inefficient way possible—by going to the emergency
room. We all pay for the trips to
the emergency room made by the uninsured.
Second, the reforms will institute an affordability
standard for Minnesotans who make under 300% of the poverty level.
Qualified individuals and families will not have to spend more than 8% of
their income on health care. This
amounts to a $5,100 maximum for a family of four.
Finally, we will reduce the growth in the cost of health
care by reforming the way we pay for health care, focusing on transparency of
costs and patient outcomes as well as health maintenance and wellness programs.
We know that 80% of the costs in our health care systems are the result
of treating the 20% of the people with chronic illnesses like coronary artery
disease, diabetes and obesity. No
effort at health care reform is a serious one unless it takes steps to change
the way we prevent, diagnose and treat these chronic illnesses.
In addition, we made sure that small business owners and
employees were not left out. We
provided tax credits for the cost of health care of new employees as well as
Section 125 plans for qualified small business owners.
We also required insurance companies to market special plans that
previous legislatures had made available to small businesses.
Hopefully these measures will help small businesses compete for the best
employees and enable them to grow more jobs.
This web site was prepared and paid for by
The Volunteers for Morgan Committee
PO Box 1773, Burnsville MN 55337-1773