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Jul 3, 2009 1:16 pm US/Central
MN Hospitals Try To Minimize Damage Of Budget Cuts
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
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The hospital stands to lose millions of dollars in state aid when a publicly subsidized insurance program ends in March.
CBS
A Minnesota legislative tour intended to assess how state budget cuts will affect health care programs arrived at the state's biggest safety-net hospital on Friday.
The House Health and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee met at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
The hospital stands to lose millions of dollars in state aid when a publicly subsidized insurance program ends in March. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has eliminated the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides coverage to 30,000 low-income adults.
HCMC serves more of Minnesota's poor and uninsured than any other hospital in the state.
The cuts to the program will mean a loss of about $40 to $60 million.
GAMC serves people who make less than $8,000 a year and can't afford private insurance.
Hospital leaders forsee a crisis if those thousands of patients don't have the state insurance any more.
The legislative committee is trying to focus on possible alternatives for the poor and uninsured to get health care and at a better price.
They're concerned about getting not only primary care for the group, but also meeting special needs for chronic and mental illnesses.
The GAMC program will end next March.
Lawmakers say they will try to restore the program in whole or part when the Legislature reconvenes in 2010.
The panel's tour includes hospital visits in Brainerd, Thief River Falls, Detroit Lakes, Bemidji, Cambridge and Cloquet.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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