The April/May issue features our opinion of the HMO transparency and accountability bills, vouchers for health care, news about the St. Paul City Council endorsement of The Minnesota Health Plan, and an update on progress in Vermont.

HMO TRANSPARENCY

Most recipients of state-funded health care are enrolled through private health plans (the PMAP program). The plans submit many reports to the state but do not open their books for a fair assessment of their efficiency. The tax payers and health care recipients deserve better!

MUHCC prefers removal of the private health plans from state-funded programs. The programs can be administered directly by the Department of Human Services and counties, without the needless expense of the health plan middle-man.

Short of removal of the plans, we ask that participating plans use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for proper recording of expenses, that we stipulate thorough, independent audits of their books, and that they cannot hide supposedly “proprietary” information.

Numerous bills in the House and Senate implement these principles, such as those by Senators Marty and Nienow and Representative Davids. They deserve our support!

VOUCHERS OR HEALTH CARE?

Recent news reports claim that some legislators are considering replacing current state-funded health programs with a voucher-based system.

According to the Star Tribune (April 20), “Under the House plan, the state would pay premiums to insurers for health plans selected by MinnesotaCare patients. Clients would be responsible for any co-pays and deductibles set by the insurers; deductibles might run $1,000 per year or higher.”

Under a voucher program, the impoverished participants in MNCare would be told to shop for and purchase private insurance, then apply their Minnesota-issued voucher to perhaps three-quarters of the cost. The amount recipients would pay compared to the current program would skyrocket and the root causes of health care inflation would remain untouched. In fact, the cost problem would be made worse by ceding additional authority to private plans.

Using vouchers to pay for health care is an unhealthy idea that would transfer yet more expense to individuals who can least afford it.

SAINT PAUL CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES THE MINNESOTA HEALTH PLAN

The St. Paul City Council unanimously endorsed a resolution supporting The Minnesota Health Plan! The resolution calls upon the council president to inform area legislators of the council’s support for universal health coverage, and urges legislators to vote in the affirmative for the MHP.

The resolution noted that in 2009, approximately 14% of St. Paul residents were without health insurance. Given that the uninsured have a higher mortality rate than those with insurance, MUHCC Interim Executive Director Lisa Nilles says that “over 1 in 10 St. Paul residents had a preventable fatal disease in 2009. The single most important thing we can do in this state to completely eliminate the fatal disease of uninsurance is to enact The Minnesota Health Plan.”

The resolution was introduced by Council members Carter, Stark and Thune. Dave Thune noted that in 2010 the City of St. Paul spent 12.4% of its annual budget on health care for its employees – a total of $26,300,000. Thune said, “the City of St. Paul, like all Minnesota municipalities and businesses, needs to rein in health care costs. A single-payer system is the only way to do that.”

And, to the point, Council member Melvin Carter III said he supports The Minnesota Health Plan “because it’s the right thing to do.”

MUHCC members Rhoda Gilman and Amber Garlan were instrumental in bringing this issue to the St. Paul City Council. Saint Paul joins the city councils of Minneapolis and Duluth in support of the Minnesota Health Plan.

CONTINUING PROGRESS IN VERMONT

Previous editions of this newsletter reported on progress toward a single-payer health care system in Vermont. We are happy to report that the enabling legislation passed the Vermont House and now is being considered by the Senate!

Senator Anthony Pollina reports that the bill takes a deliberate approach: “It establishes a Board to answer questions about what Green Mountain Care (the single payer) may look like. So, over the next few years a benefits package will be designed, costs and provider payments determined and a financing plan recommended. The Legislature will then vote to approve or disapprove it. This is expected in 2013 but may not happen until 2017, leaving much time for questions, answers and debate on the issues.”

While we had hoped that Minnesota would be the first state in the union to institute an integrated, universal health care system, we congratulate our colleagues in Vermont for their progress!

 This update is brought to you by the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition
2469 University Ave W, Suite W150, Saint Paul MN 55114    www.muhcc.org  (651) 641-4073
Lisa Nilles, Acting Executive Director, info@muhcc.org C: (612) 720-7437
Joel Clemmer, Chair, Legislative Relations Committee, joel@joelclemmer.org, (651) 442-7639
Julian Loscalzo, Lobbyist, ballparktours@qwestoffice.net, (612) 328-1145