People’s House Series: Protect health care & the provider tax

Dear Friends,

There are deep, underlying questions we should be asking our elected leaders and each other. What kind of world do we want to live in? What does it mean to care for each other? What would it mean if we had health care that included everyone in Minnesota and left no one to fend for themselves? No one should have to crowdfund to get the care they need.

As we start the second week of session, I wanted to share background on one of the biggest issues we’re working on: the health care provider tax.

Since 1990s, the health care provider tax has been successfully used to fund MinnesotaCare, Medical Assistance, and public health programs.

However, in 2011 a deal was struck between Gov. Dayton and Republicans to “phase out” the health care provider tax by 2019. It was a tough time. The deal came as part of a negotiation to end the state government shutdown.

Here are some throwback tweets from July 2011:

As Watterson said in his 2011 tweet, repealing it was a “#BFD.” Not in a good way.

Fast forward to 2019

Cut to today. Without action from the Legislature, the state will lose nearly $700 million a year for health care programs.

Of course, many providers are pushing hard to keep the repeal in place, while offering half baked alternatives.

Here’s our take: if there was a better option we’d have it by now. But health care providers are a wealthy and powerful industry–they have a lot of profit to gain by getting rid of the health care provider tax.

There are three main reasons why legislators should “repeal the sunset” (i.e. save) the health care provider tax as quickly as possible.

1. There’s nothing to be gained by waiting. Everyone, including providers agree that $700 million a year in health care funding can’t just disappear. There’s no better alternative, and nothing to be gained from waiting all session to solve the issue.
2. We need pro-active solutions on health care. It’s not enough to simply maintain the status quo. Minnesotans are demanding real solutions on health care, starting with the MinnesotaCare Buy-In. It’s a waste of time to continue a debate that has a solution. (Again, if there’s a better option, show us.)
3. It’s the responsible action to take. Everything’s interconnected. The whole budget outlook is unclear without knowing the outcome on the health care provider tax. We can’t have an honest debate about the two-year budget without knowing if there’s going to be a $1 billion budget gap.

It’s no accident that Minnesota has been a long time, national leader on health care and health insurance coverage. We decided decades ago, as a state, to care and invest in each other–repealing the health care provider tax is arbitrary, unnecessary, and harmful.

Call your state senator and state representative right now. Tell them to protect MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance by repealing the sunset of the provider tax today.

***

Want to get involved? Share your health care story or email us at info@takeactionminnesota.org today to connect with an organizer.