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Minnesota nursing homes to seek more aid
Despite state budget problems, advocates say spending on health care would save money down the road.
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As state officials begin pulling out red pens to cope with a nearly $5 billion budget shortfall, groups representing nursing homes and the uninsured said Wednesday they will ask the Legislature for millions in additional health spending.
"We have to get past the narrative that this session is only about balancing the budget," said Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, who will sponsor legislation backed by both groups. "We can do more."
Legislative action on spending bills is expected to start slowly while the state waits for a new economic forecast next month and for possible help from a new economic stimulus package under discussion in Washington, D.C.
But both proposals face tough sledding, and health and human services spending may be prime targets for budget cuts. Gov. Tim Pawlenty will offer his budget proposal Jan. 27.
One proposal offered Wednesday would cover about 77,000 uninsured children by 2010. A more modest bill in 2007, which passed the House but not the Senate, would have covered 20,000 children at a cost of $250 million a year.
The proposal, called the Minnesota Health Security Act, is backed by a coalition that includes the Children's Defense Fund Minnesota and a range of unions and other groups with 350,000 members. It would be expanded to adults by 2012 and ensure that no one would pay more than 5 percent of family income for health insurance.
The state's 393 nursing homes, which say they now lose more than $23 a day per resident under reimbursements set by the state, will ask for $80 million for the next two years to prop up their rates and give all long-term-care employees a 2.9-percent cost of living raise.
"Many homes have cut staffing and services, and I don't thing there's much more to cut," said Patti Cullen, CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota. "More homes will close, we're starting to see waiting lists to get in, and it's our job to warn legislators that quality and access to care are at risk."
New ways to pay for care
"We need to rethink how we finance long-term care and make sure that everyone has access to affordable health care," said Thissen, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee in the House. He also will sponsor a bill offering MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health plan for lower-income people, to anyone receiving unemployment compensation.
Payments based on need
Advocates say both proposals would save money by reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and improving health.
One proposal by the state's two nursing home trade groups would allow people to buy state-supervised long-term care insurance charging a set premium and making payments to individuals -- for them to spend however they see fit -- based on need.
The payments likely would not cover all of a person's long-term-care costs, but they would stretch clients' personal savings and delay the point at which they seek help from the state-federal Medicaid program, advocates say. Medicaid pays about $1.2 billion a year for two-thirds of Minnesota nursing home residents.
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
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Current state office holders
Governor: Tim Pawlenty
One of only a few prominent Republicans to win a competitive re-election contest in the Democratic sweep of 2006, Tim Pawlenty is widely seen as politically shrewd and naturally likable.
- Lt. Governor: Carol Molnau
- Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie
- Attorney General: Lori Swanson
- State Auditor: Rebecca Otto
Minnesota's political giants: Learn more about the men and women who have shaped Minnesota's political history.
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