“Reform” is a word thrown about much in today’s political lexicon and is extremely overused.  The human services legislation just signed by Gov. Mark Dayton actually accomplishes this work.  Instead of “kicking the can down the road,” we face the real problems head-on.

Rather than take the unwise path of unsustainable growth and inefficient care delivery, we will rely on reform to promote a patient-centered, sustainable system, continuing our role as a national health care leader.

Headed into the work of this budget, we found ourselves in a very challenging situation, with previously made promises that our system simply could not handle.

The budget is the product of honest negotiation between the governor and the Legislature.  Despite our early differences, the governor, Department of Health and Human Services commissioner and legislators came together to craft a positive budget in a challenging situation.

Minnesotans can be proud of this kind of work.  The compromise of legislative proposals and the governor’s requests includes substantial reform, streamlining, and improvements to our state health system.

The new HHS budget reduces projected spending by $1.04 billion while providing an 11 percent increase in funding over 2010-11 levels. The legislation also makes future spending more sustainable, bending the cost curve from the current 22 percent increase to a more manageable 4.8 percent.

One such false promise is future provider rate increases, or “rebasing.”  Nursing homes were promised rebasing in 2007, which would give automatic rate increases.  It was supposed to happen every two years, but the Legislature delayed such action every year since 2007 due to budgetary constraints. This year we ended the unreal promise of rebasing rather than simply continuing to delay it. Similar action was taken with hospital rebasing, since it hadn’t been paid out in a decade.  It is not fair to health care providers to make future funding commitments that there is no way for us to meet.

Other reforms in the new legislation include competitive bidding by HMOs, reduction of emergency room use, better coordination of patient care, allowing counties more flexibility in providing their services, and multiple disability care improvements. Minnesota will apply to the federal government for waivers to give us flexibility to serve our needy in more creative and innovative ways.

Working with the health care community during the regular session and negotiating with the Governor’s administration and the Senate during the shutdown produced a balanced budget that leverages innovation and reform to make Minnesota’s HHS system accountable, responsible and sustainable.

Jim Abeler

chairman

House Health and Human Services Finance Committee

representative

District 48B

Anoka