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Using health care dollars to balance budget is wrong |
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
Sen. Rick Olseen
Guest Columnist
Recently, Gov. Pawlenty proposed using $250 million from the Health Care Access Fund to balance the state’s nearly billion-dollar budget deficit. I’m writing to update you on why I believe this is not the best option for solving our state’s budget problems.
In Minnesota, people pay a 2 percent health care tax every time they see the doctor, stay in a hospital, or visit a dentist. This money is put into the Health Care Access Fund to help cover the medical bills of working Minnesotans who lack health care coverage.
I, along with the majority of the Legislature, feel that when a tax is collected for a specific purpose, like providing affordable health care for children and families, its proceeds should not be diverted to other functions.
I was glad to see that in a survey, 84 percent of Minnesotans also don’t feel it is appropriate to balance the budget deficit with Health Care Access Fund dollars.
In Minnesota, we have approximately 400,000 people that are uninsured, and almost 80,000 of these are children. Given the state’s weak economy, with scarce job opportunities and declining employer benefits, it is especially inappropriate to use health care dollars for purposes other than providing affordable health care.
Diverting funds from the Health Care Access Account will only make health insurance less affordable and put further stress on Minnesota families’ budgets.
From a national perspective, however, Minnesota does have one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation at 7 percent. Many national experts attribute this success to our MinnesotaCare program.
MinnesotaCare was created in 1992 as a way to provide affordable insurance to working individuals and families whose incomes were above eligibility requirements for medical assistance, but still could not afford to buy private insurance. The Health Care Access Fund and 2 percent tax were created and dedicated to pay for the MinnesotaCare program.
Raiding health care to balance the budget is wrong for Minnesota.
While cutting programs and shifting funds from one account to another may seem like a quick fix, it is the wrong thing to do. The funds from the health care tax are supposed to be used for health care, so the money should go where it was intended in the first place instead of diverted to pay for non- health care causes.
An additional negative to the governor’s plan to take from the fund is that it would increase the number of uninsured families in our state, leading to more uncompensated care for our doctors and hospitals, which would, in turn, drive up insurance premiums for everyone else.
In the Senate’s Deficit Reduction Bill, we do not transfer Health Care Access funds.
Instead, we balance the budget through health care reforms. Our bill reduces administrative spending by health insurance companies, lowers the excess profit margins that can be maintained by health insurance plans, and invests Health Care Access Fund dollars for their intended use for health care.
With our state in a recession, families can’t bear the burden of increased health care premiums. To keep these costs in check, we must continue to invest in programs that help working Minnesota families afford health care.
I hope that through our budget negotiations, the governor will recognize that maintaining the Health Care Access Fund and MinnesotaCare program are vital in the effort to curb skyrocketing health care costs for all Minnesotans.
Rick Olseen is the DFL District 17 State Senator from Harris He can be reached at 651-296-5419, by e-mail to
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, or by mail to G-24 State Capitol, St. Paul, MN 55155.
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