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April 21, 2005
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| But Rep. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, says House Republicans are cutting programs for the low-income and working class. (House Web) |
St. Paul, Minn. — The House Health Policy and Finance Committee has approved an omnibus budget bill that cuts 30,000 people off of state health programs. On a 10-to-6 vote, the committee sent the bill to House Ways and Means Committee.
The bill also cuts payments to hospitals and increases out of pocket costs for those on state health programs.
Supporters say the bill provides payment increases for nursing homes, long-term-care facilities and home-health-care agencies. Supporters say the cuts were necessary to control the rapid enrollment growth in the state's subsidized health insurance programs.
Rep. Duke Powell, R-Burnsville, says health care costs are eating into state budgets nationwide. He says House Republicans are trying to get a handle on the rising costs.
"We are looking at short-term stop gap measures for an entrenched problem that just seems to be just over all of our heads. Sometimes I feel like we're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," he said. "It's not any of our faults, basically, it's just the way things are and it's not just here in Minnesota, it's everywhere."
But Rep. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, says House Republicans are cutting programs for the low-income and working class.
"This is a health care massacre," she said. "It's not only a health care massacre, but it's a people of Minnesota massacre because this isn't the only bill that's going to affect these same people in this Legislature right now."
The bill now moves to the House Ways and Means Committee.
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