Health care Web site seeks local feedback

Staff

Published Friday, July 18, 2008

Since the 2008 legislative session ended in May, I have been back in the district, talking to residents about what we accomplished, the challenges ahead, and getting their feedback on concerns and issues. Without a doubt, the economy is weighing heavily on the minds of most people. A major component of those worries is the high cost of health care. Whether they have insurance or are uninsured, an employee or the owner of a business, health care costs are stretching the budgets of most Minnesotans.

This session, the health care reform bill we passed begins to transform Minnesota’s health care system by lowering costs, making health care more affordable for Minnesotans with insurance, and extending coverage to more uninsured Minnesotans. As a result of our efforts over the last two years, 117,000 Minnesotans now have health insurance, allowing them to seek the preventative and medical care they need.

One of the most exciting components of this package is that we could actually have a health care system in our state that helps keep people healthy. Instead of stretching health care dollars to cover expensive treatments and procedures, we are working to provide incentives to prevent diseases in the first place — providing a significant cost savings. When chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes account for up to 83 percent of health care spending, it is obvious that the best way to lower overall costs is to help Minnesotans with chronic diseases manage their health.

To help state leaders continue to address the health care issues facing average Minnesotans, a Web site has been created asking for your stories and feedback. The site, www.healthcareformn.org, also offers information about the overall status of health care in Minnesota, links to health care blogs, updates on legislative action, and a petition Minnesotans can sign urging leaders to pass significant health care reform.

Let me give you an example of how this could work. At the time of the 2003 budget deficit, a $5,000 annual cap was put on benefits for adults without children who were on MinnesotaCare, the state health insurance plan for working people who do not have access to insurance through their employer. A woman in our state who was battling breast cancer exhausted her chemotherapy benefits in February of the next year. As a result, her cancer went untreated until she could begin chemo again the following January. Her story brought a heightened level of awareness to the dangers and inhumanity of this benefit cap, leading to its elimination in 2005.

I have also heard the story about a family who thought they had the health care issue covered, but learned when the wife was diagnosed with liver cancer just how tenuous their situation is. As the owner of a small business, the husband carries health insurance for his employees, as well as his own family. The high cost of his wife’s cancer treatment, which ran as high as $500,000 in one year, is driving up the cost of his insurance premiums so dramatically that his business is threatened. He is hesitant to risk losing his employees by passing these costs on to them, but by paying them himself, he risks losing his business.

To add to their worries, the wife’s significant earnings in the health care industry have been cut by 80 percent, as she struggles to continue working while undergoing weekly chemotherapy treatments. Their story is a good example of how our current health care system can be unforgiving and inadequate when a crisis hits.

Because average Minnesotans are the ones who bear the burden of a health care system that doesn’t always work, we are hoping that by sharing their stories and ideas with state leaders, they can also become part of the solution. By working together, I am hopeful we can continue to improve our state’s health care system so everyone has access to affordable insurance, costs can actually come down, and care will be directed to better meet the needs of the patient.

As always, I am honored to serve. Please continue to be a part of the process by contacting me with your concerns and suggestions. I can be reached at 507-438-9086, or by e-mail at rep.robin.brown@house.mn.

Robin Brown, DFL-Austin, is the state representative for District 27. She lives in Moscow Township in Freeborn County.

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