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| MINNESOTA SENATE PASSES HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT | ||||||||||||
(St. Paul) -- The Minnesota Senate passed the Health and Human Services Finance Conference Committee report on Wednesday following a rigorous floor debate. The conference committee agreement contains an eight percent increase from current HHS spending, and an 11 percent reduction in overall spending from the February forecast.
The conference report reforms state-subsidized health care delivery systems in a couple of ways. The Healthy Minnesota Defined Contribution program is included in the report and will cover adults without children at or above 125 percent Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), as well as parents above 133 percent FPG in MinnesotaCare. In order to cover parents above 133 percent, the federal government must grant a waiver.
The report also reinstates the General Assistance Medical Care /Coordinated Care Delivery Systems (CCDS). This program is similar to the former CCDS program, but some changes were made, including allowing adults without children at or below 125 percent FPG to participate (the old program income level was set at 75 percent), allowing county based purchasing programs to participate, and funding the program at a higher level. Specific bill language is also included to apply for federal matching money to fund the program at twice the level of state funding.
“With the implementation of the Healthy Minnesota Defined Contribution Program and the reinstatement of the GAMC coordinated care delivery system, the conference committee was able to achieve significant and sustainable health care reform, while providing access to health care for lower income Minnesotans,” said Senator David Hann (R-Eden Prairie).
Senator Hann concluded: “Although this bill is not perfect, it does do some very important things: It challenges the involvement of the federal government in Minnesota’s health care system, it establishes a public health care system that is affordable and sustainable, and limits the growth of public health care. And, it recognizes the ability of everyone, even low income Minnesotans, to make decisions about their own health care.
The Conference Report will now be voted on by members of the Minnesota House of Representatives before it is sent to Governor Dayton.
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