Legislative Report on Health Care

Editor's Note: Jane Tschida of our webteam has gotten involved with the Archdiocese Office of Social Justice. Jane has multiple years of experience with the state legislature and has been hanging out at the House and Senate to report on the goings on of this session. She filed this report on the status of Health Care legislation, important to both the Archdiocese and SJA.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Being at the state legislature is like the old joke about Minnesota weather. Hang around for a half hour and it will change. Last week, a bill supported by the Office of Social Justice, the Children’s Health Security Act, providing health care for children from low-income Minnesota families next year and ultimately health care for all state children by 2010, was pronounced dead. But Senator Linda Berglin resurrected a piece of the concept and will add it to the Senate omnibus Health and Services department funding bill when it is cobbled together next week. Berglin’s version would provide that any child whose family income is below 275% of federal poverty guidelines will be eligible for health care regardless of whether parents have employer subsidized coverage. Insurance will be provided under MinnesotaCare. There is no waiting period for coverage and children may be able to apply as early as August of 2006. This language has not been considered by the House.

Senator Berglin has also authored Senate File 2625, providing for a constitutional amendment affirming that every resident of Minnesota has the right to affordable health care. The bill will be heard before the full Senate some time this session. While the bill is not expected to pass the legislature, it will give a boost to supporters of universal health care.

Another bill supported by the Office of Social Justice which would allow the state to purchase prescription drugs at negotiated bulk rates was scheduled to be heard in the Senate but was pulled pending further research. It is doubtful that this bill is going anywhere.

The House aired some rather unpleasant legislation last week. House File 3774 (Bradley, Rochester,) would mandate that county employees check whether a person applying for medical assistance is legal. If not, the employee must report that person to Immigration Services. Another bill, House File 2877 (Emmer, Delano,) would eliminate health care except for labor and delivery for undocumented pregnant noncitizens. These bills may be included in the House omnibus Health and Human Services department bill next week. They were not heard in the Senate.

The Governor’s Mental Health bill will be part of omnibus funding packages in both houses. House File 3630 (Bradley,) and Senate File 3290(Berglin,) propose that there be approximately $55 million in new money allocated for mental health. The legislation integrates physical and mental health, and attempts to reform structural, financial and organizational problems to better serve the consumer. Despite some initial agreement on the concept, parties disagree about which funds should be used to support the effort. Opponents (including many counties) have suggested that the changes just will create a bigger mess in mental health care delivery.

There’s a lot of talk about a surplus in the health care access fund and how to spend it. Financed by a 2% tax on health care providers, the fund pays for MinnesotaCare, an insurance program for low income people. The Senate would like to use the surplus to increase the number of people and the amount of services provided by MinnesotaCare. Senate File 2725 (Berglin) creates a drug discount program for all people who have no insurance or whose insurance does not cover prescription drugs. The discount would be the same as what is provided under medical assistance. The legislation also expands benefits for single adults, including hospital benefits, includes low-income farmer coverage, and allows small employers, in some cases, to buy into the program.

Jane Tschida has attended Joan of Arc off and on for about 35 years.  She and husband Paul are parishioners. Jane is a retired non-profit association director and has always been involved in public affairs. Her goal is to become more involved in social ministry at Joan of Arc, and writing for the web site is her first attempt.

The House goes in an entirely different direction. House File 3360 (Bradley) would repeal the assessment that health insurers pay to help people who have lost their insurance (Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association fund or MCHA.) MCHA would be financed by taking $55 million a year from the Health Care Access Fund. Another bill, House File 2935 (Bradley,) would authorize the Commissioner of Finance to project a balance for the Health Care Access Fund every two years and reduce MinnesotaCare taxes accordingly.

Finally, Governor Pawlenty’s supplementary appropriation bill allocates $10.5 million from the access fund to the Department of Health for pandemic influenza preparedness, and $12 million for electronic health information technology. More than $2 million from the access fund would help publicize a new program to reduce state employee health care costs, and $10 million would offset assessments paid by contributing members to MCHA. He also allocates about $4 million to fund health and human services administrative costs and programs.

The so-called omnibus spending bills containing (or not containing) bills already passed by committees must be assembled by Tuesday, April 11 in each house. At some point soon, each body will determine what various state departments like Health and Human Services can spend. Conference committees will meet and confer with the governor.

The collective wisdom being offered around the Capitol is that very little health care legislation will pass. Money in the access fund does not HAVE to be spent, the second year session really is supposed to concentrate on bonding bills, and the House, Senate, and Governor have, for the most part, entirely different ideas on how to spend any excess money whether it be from special accounts or the general fund.

If the will to cooperate is there, it may be possible to give everyone a little bit of what they want when finance and tax bills go to conference committees. No one is taking any bets on the outcome at the moment.