What is the most alarming noise for Minnesota legislators?

Tick tock. Tick tock.

The clock is moving relentlessly to a May 18 adjournment deadline for the Minnesota legislative session, and ominous signs are beginning to point to a deadlock on key budget bills.

The DFL-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House passed budget bills at opposite extremes of the issue.

The best example by Wednesday morning was the House passing a health and human services budget bill with about $1 billion in cuts. The cuts include eliminating MinnesotaCare, a program created in 1992 for people who make too much money to qualify for Medical Assistance yet typically cannot afford their own insurance.

Here are the number of people enrolled in MinnesotaCare in our area: 2,373 in Stearns County, 659 in Benton, 1,371 in Sherburne, 1,965 in Wright and 698 in Morrison.

The House bill doesn’t make clear if there are subsidies or other aid to help these people transition to other health insurance plans. A chilling possibility may be having many former MinnesotaCare recipients flood emergency rooms. They also may put off preventative care, which may result in more expensive treatment from a disease or condition.

Gov. Mark Dayton and the Senate leadership have vowed to oppose the elimination of MinnesotaCare. There is no question the program can reduce its budget by finding waste and eliminating people who don’t qualify for services. But the extremist House bill is one more hurdle to reaching a budget compromise by May 18.

An Associated Press report gives a warning about a previous dispute on health care reform:

“The bill’s passage sets up a wide gulf with the Democrat-controlled Senate, where top lawmakers say going after MinnesotaCare … when the state has a hefty budget surplus is unthinkable. It has sparked memories of 2005, when a GOP-led effort to tighten MinnesotaCare enrollment was a large factor in a government shutdown.”

The House and Senate also are far apart on transportation funding, tax relief, education funding and other significant parts of a budget.

And remember this was touted as a session to benefit outstate Minnesota. It doesn’t look like that is happening. Example: More money to expand broadband access outstate? Republicans oppose it.

Could lawmakers be staking out positions for a compromise? Is all this political posturing ahead of the 2016 election?

Let’s be very clear: With the state enjoying a $1.8 billion surplus, state lawmakers had better start finding compromises. Minnesotans won’t tolerate a government shutdown and a special session.

 

— St. Cloud Times, April 29