politics
With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.
Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.
Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.
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Posts about Health care
Rep. Franson offers proposal to limit unionization
Posted by: Baird Helgeson Updated: December 19, 2012 - 8:52 PM
State Rep. Mary Franson is trying to head off new unionization efforts with a proposal to block groups from forcing independent contractors to join a union.
The Alexandria Republican said DFL Gov. Mark Dayton wants to allow labor leaders to unionize home childcare providers and in-home health assistants as payback for political support.
“Dayton is helping his union allies at the expense of family care providers,” Franson said. “His efforts are nothing but a raw political and financial power grab, and I won’t stand for it.”
The governor does not believe anybody should be forced to unionize, a spokeswoman said.
“Governor Dayton believes it is the right of individuals to vote on whether or not to form a union—holding an election is the American way of resolving differences in a group,” said Katharine Tinucci, a Dayton spokeswoman.
Dayton signed an executive order last year calling for a unionization vote for state-subsidized home childcare providers, which a judge threw out after union opponents filed a lawsuit.
Tinucci noted that even if child care workers had voted to form a union, no individual would have been forced to join.
Franson called the unionization effort a “money laundering scheme” to divert taxpayer money through at-home daycares and home healthcare providers back to unions, which typically support Democrats.
The children, the sick and the elderly “don’t deserve to be caught up in a money laundering scheme,” Franson said.
Union leaders said legislators like Franson have spent years cutting their wages and making it harder for them to make a fair living.
“We need to join together as a union to protect ourselves from politicians like Mary Franson," said Lisa Thompson, president of Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME. "They’ve cut our pay. They’ve eliminated quality improvement grants for our profession. And they’ve ignored the 7,000 parents who are waiting for child care so they can go to work.”
To see the proposal or sign a petition supporting the idea, check here.
Franson’s proposal is not likely to get far in the Legislature. Starting in January, Democrats take over control the House and Senate and are not expected to embrace proposals to limit unions. It's also not clear whether Franson's proposal has broader support among GOP members.
Paulsen disputes Obama account of med device tax
Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: December 14, 2012 - 11:56 AM
White House photo
Paulsen, the acting chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on human resources, has been trying to rally support in Senate to repeal or delay the tax, which goes into effect in 18 days.
Asked about the tax by WCCO’s Frank Vascellaro on Thursday night, Obama argued that medical device companies, insurers, and other health care providers will all benefit from the 30 million new customers that the Affordable Care Act brings.
“It’s going to be great for business, and they’re doing really well right now,” the president said. “This additional tax essentially comes back to them as new customers.”
Paulsen called the supposed “windfall’ to the industry a “convenient myth.”
“In reality, utilization of medical devices is heavily tipped towards America’s aging population,” Paulsen said. “Medicare beneficiaries, both elderly and disabled, are disproportionally large users of medical devices and already have coverage through that program. Similar state level reforms in Massachusetts have not resulted in more revenues for medical device innovators.”
The president argued that “nobody should go bankrupt when they get sick in this country” and that “providers of medical services should recognize they’re going to get a benefit from all of these uninsured folks suddenly having insurance, and that means they should be willing to do a little bit in order to make that happen.”
He also argued that this is not unique to the medical device industry. “Hospitals are doing a little bit more because they know now they’re not going to have uncompensated care in emergency rooms, everybody’s going to have some kind of insurance. Doctors, same kind of thing.”
Paulsen says the tax will be a job killer in the industry. He got a repeal bill through the House in June, and has been joined by Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken in seeking its repeal or postponement this month.
What the state forecasts say
Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: December 5, 2012 - 11:57 AMBy Baird Helgeson and Jennifer Brooks
Despite an improving economy, Minnesota state leaders face a new, $1.1 billion budget deficit, according a new economic update released Wednesday.
Minnesota has been pulling itself up during a fragile economic recovery, but the sliver of additional tax revenue is not enough to keep up with rising costs, the numbers show.
The budget numbers, which are always a moving target, are more uncertain than usual as Washington leaders debate the so-called fiscal cliff, which could plunge Minnesota and the nation into another recession.
Minnesota Management and Budget has released the complete economic and budget details. The new budget number will become the foundation of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget proposal, expected to be released next month.
The improving economy in the current budget cycle will allow the state to repay $1.3 billion borrowed from public schools to balance the state budget. However, the state still owes the schools more than $1 billion and the new deficit means there is no immediate plan to pay back the balance.
“The economy is a little weaker than we thought it would be last February. Not a lot weaker, but a little weaker,” State Economist Tom Stinson said.
The uncertainly around the fiscal cliff is a bigger drag on the economy, Stinson said. If President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders fail to strike a different budget deal, a menu of tax hikes and deep spending reductions will kick in and begin tugging at an already anemic economic recovery.
“There’s no reason for us to have a recession in 2013 or 2014,” Stinson said. “And if we do, it will be self-inflicted. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have one.”
If the two sides reach a deal and bring new predictability to taxes and spending, it could unleash a torrent of pent up spending and give a notable boost to the economy in Minnesota and the nation.
“One can imagine increased business spending and increased business hiring once they knew what the rules could be,” Stinson said.
The twice-annual economic forecast takes into account an array of indicators, including local economy, the national economy, even the financial instability spiraling throughout Europe.
Minnesota's economy is already doing better than many parts of the nation. Minnesota’s unemployment rate is hovering around 5.8 percent, about two full percentage points better than the national average.
Minnesota’s construction sector endured the worst of the last recession, and has suffered the most stubbornly high unemployment rates. Stinson said he finally sees that sector improving in a significant way.
“We are expecting the housing sector to begin to turn around and begin to grow over the next couple years,” he said.
The healthcare industry continues to outperform many other sectors, particularly as Minnesota baby boomers edge toward retirement.
Dayton is going to use the budget forecast data to form his budget proposal, which is likely to include a plan for a massive retooling of the state tax system.
The changing economy has left the state relying too little on income and sales taxes and placing too much reliance on property taxes, Dayton has said.
Dayton’s revenue and budget officials want to distribute the tax burden more evenly, potentially lowering some taxes and increasing others.
Stinson said a reshuffling of the tax laws could finally break Minnesota out of the cycle of annual budget deficits that caused years of statewide reductions and borrowing. State leaders haven’t made a comprehensive reform effort since the 1980s.
“We certainly need to make sure that Minnesota’s tax system is appropriate for dealing with the economy that we have in 2012 rather than the economy that existed in 1984,” Stinson said.
MN expands health coverage for thousands of children
Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: July 26, 2012 - 1:45 PMThe state of Minnesota is expanding health care coverage to thousands of uninsured children.
The new initiative, first approved by the Legislature in 2009 and finally implemented this month, will erase barriers like waiting periods and monthly insurance premium payments for coverage. Some 16,000 children from lower-income families could now be eligible for health insurance.
Gloria Agbator wept when she heard the news.
A single working mother, she had health insurance for herself through her job, but couldn’t afford the hundreds of extra dollars a month it would have cost to include her three children on the plan.
“I’m really happy about it,” said Agbator, who is battling pneumonia right now and was terrified that her children – a 14-year-old and 10-year-old twins – would get sick too. “I was so scared for my kids…This program is going to be a really good blessing to my family.”
The healthcare expansion is targeted to working families like hers; those making between 150 percent and 200 percent of the poverty level. Agbator, who works as a program manager for a group home in Dakota County, had been worried about how she would afford her children’s back-to-school checkups and vaccinations when she got news of the program change.
“I’m crying, but I’m happy,” she said. “I work full-time, but I can’t afford to pay for my children’s health insurance.”
The state estimates that more than 70,000 Minnesota children do not have health insurance. House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, called that statistic “unacceptable and un-Minnesotan” as he announced the new initiative at the Capitol Thursday morning.
Thissen noticed that Minnesota, long-recognized as a state with some of the strongest children’s health programs in the nation, recently lipped from second to fifth-best in the nation, according to a recent report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“That trend has been going in the wrong direction, so I’m glad we could stand here today and talk about moving forward on something and providing coverage to kids so they can get the care they need to stay healthy,” said Thissen, who was joined at the press conference by Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson.
The healthcare expansion will cost about $11 million a year by the time it's fully implemented 2014, with the federal government picking up half the cost, Thissen said. Although the reforms passed in 2009, the state had to wait for federal approval to put the changes into effect.
Dayton officials fire back on $30 M UCare payment
Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: July 17, 2012 - 6:16 PM
A letter to congressional investigators signed by DHS counsel Amy Kaldor Akbay said the department has tried to resolve the issue “in good faith” and that committee allegations to the contrary are based on “hearsay.”
The 2011 payment from UCare, which manages Medicaid patients for the state, has been the focus of an ongoing probe of Medicaid fraud by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by California Republican Darrel Issa.
Jesson repeatedly called the payment a “donation” in an April hearing in Washington, saying she took that characterization from UCare President and Chief Executive Nancy Feldman. But committee investigators who interviewed Feldman privately last month in Washington say that she “denied” that she or any other high-ranking UCare officials ever referred to the payment as a donation.
UCare officials have generally been calling the payment a “contribution.”
Citing Feldman’s statement to investigators, which has not been made part of the public record, committee staff wrote to Jesson on June 28 offering her a chance to “clarify or correct” her testimony.
The DHS’ response is that there’s nothing to correct, saying the term donation is “interchangeable and synonymous” with a contribution.
UCare spokesman Dan Ness backed up the DHS response: "We have consistently described the money we gave to the state as a contribution," he said in an email. "However, we did not see the difference between the terms 'contribution' and 'donation.' The contribution was not paid to the state out of any obligation, but was a completely voluntary action intended to help the state address its large budget deficit. After we made our contribution, it was between the State and federal government to determine how the funds were allocated."
Akbay’s response also called the congressional panel’s recent letter “challenging” in that it requested that Jesson “respond to comments made in a context that amounts to hearsay – questioning conducted privately, without record and presented by third-party characterization.”
Congressional investigators have been pressing the point for months, citing an internal email from Jesson in 2011 stating that it was important to call the payment a donation in order to keep the money for the state.
Any other kind of repayment would entail splitting the money with the federal government, which shares the costs of the Medicaid program for low-income patients. That is ultimately what the state agreed to do.
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