House DFL unveils plan to move state to universal health

Legislators in the House and Senate have joined a trend toward states taking the initiative on health care reform.

By Norman Draper, Star Tribune

Last update: March 28, 2007 - 10:15 PM

Tens of thousands of uninsured children would be guaranteed health insurance coverage under a $10.2 billion, two-year health care proposal released Wednesday by House DFLers who touted it as a first step toward making health care available to every Minnesotan.

The plan, which increases health and human services spending by about 6 percent -- or $528 million -- over the next two years, also aims to extend health coverage to young adults, making it easier to apply for such insurance and boosting funding for long-term care for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Although the plan calls for universal health care coverage for all Minnesotans by 2010, it only establishes that as a goal, and sets up a task force to study how to achieve it. A Senate bill does the same while focusing on somewhat different immediate steps to expand coverage.

Both measures are part of a national trend of states seeking to take the initiative on health-care reform.

DFL representatives, who announced the plan at a news conference, highlighted the plan's provisions to provide health insurance for 30,000 to 40,000 uninsured children by 2009.

"We'll be delivering on one of our promises of making sure every child has access to a doctor," said one of the plan's authors, Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis. "This is one thing Minnesotans understand. It makes sense to cover kids."

The goal would be to ultimately cover all of the estimated 70,000 uninsured Minnesota children. That would cost $99 million over the next two years, according to House DFLers, and another $373 million to fully fund the initiative in 2010 and 2011.

Also included in the plan are provisions to make it easier to coordinate care for patients with chronic diseases, potentially lowering costs and improving care, and measures meant to streamline medical billing red tape.

The plan also would pump $179 million in new funds into long-term care funding for the elderly and disabled. That would restore cost-of-living increases to long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, which the state reimburses for some care costs. Those inflationary increases were frozen in 2003.

The plan must pass muster in several House committees before going on to a full vote of the House.

An $11.5 billion, two-year Senate health and human services bill is expected to come up for a floor vote in the Senate today. That bill provides $123 million in inflationary increases for long-term care facilities. It uses a state medical services and insurance tax to provide $122 million in funding over two years to provide health insurance for uninsured children and adults. By the end of 2011, that initiative is meant to cover 50,000 uninsured children and adults.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547 • ndraper@startribune.com