Session 2004 Bonding Education Finance and taxes Gambling Health Care Public Safety Social Services Stadium Issues Transportation Audio Durenberger on Midday (1/13/04) Photos Dave Durenberger More from MPR Health care costs loom as large issue in Session 2004 (12/16/2003) Task force seeks prescription for rising health costs (10/27/2003) Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

Durenberger forum likely to advocate health care for all
January 12, 2004

Former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, who chairs a health care reform task force, said the group shares a belief that the ultimate goal is to have health insurance for everybody. He called universal health care a "Minnesota value." (MPR file photo)

Minnesotans have a strong appetite for major changes in the health care system that would both lower costs and lead to universal access to care. That's the conclusion of a state forum being led by former U.S. Sen. David Durenberger.

St. Paul, Minn. — The forum, appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and made up of 18 people representing businesses, unions, community groups and a variety of health care interests, released its findings Monday. They were gathered from six weeks of public forums and a statewide public opinion survey.

The panel isn't due to turn the findings into recommendations to present to Pawlenty until early February, and even then only a handful will deal with specific changes to state law.

But Durenberger said he believes the panelists already share a belief that the ultimate goal is to have health insurance for everybody. He called universal health care a "Minnesota value."

About 95 percent of Minnesotans have health insurance, well above the national average of about 85 percent.

Minnesotans are afraid they are going to lose their health insurance. They are afraid they can't switch jobs because they're going to lose their access to health care. - Dave Durenberger

"Minnesotans are afraid they are going to lose their health insurance," Durenberger said. "They are afraid they can't switch jobs because they're going to lose their access to health care."

The forum's poll, which had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, showed that while most Minnesotans believe the government should guarantee health coverage, they want the system itself to be run by the private sector and not the government.

Other findings of the poll, taken by telephone of 800 Minnesotans in late November:

-Minnesotans are more satisfied with their own health care than are people in the nation as a whole.

-Older people and those with higher incomes are more satisfied than the young and poor.

-Minnesotans are very concerned about cost - more so than in the nation as a whole, based on an ABC News poll that asked the same question.

-A clear majority, 87 percent, in the state believe it should be legal to buy prescription drugs from a foreign country.

-Four of five Minnesotans say they would be willing to pay higher taxes to provide health care coverage to more people.

-More than 90 percent of poll respondents said they want the ability to choose their own doctors.

-More than half disagree with the concept that that those who are expected to consume more health care services should pay higher premiums.

-Respondents were slightly in favor of penalizing people for their personal choices. About 62 percent said people should pay higher premiums for bad habits such as smoking or not exercising, that can increase overall health care costs.

"There seems to be strong support for universal insurance backed up by a willingness to pay for it," said panelist Dr. Glen Nelson, a former surgeon and former vice chairman of Medtronic. "You could argue that, politically, the people do support universal insurance."

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

News Headlines

Related Subjects