An Overview of Senate Democrats’ Proposed Human Services Budget and What It Means for Our Nursing Homes
by Senator Jason Rarick
I’m sure many remember the Governor’s proposed nursing home cuts that came out a few months ago – I highlighted them in a recent column and pointed out just how problematic those numbers were, and how harmful they would be to families in our part of the state. Luckily, those cuts are shaping up to be a bit lower than what the governor proposed. Unfortunately, as dictated by the Democrats’ Human Services bill, significant cuts are still being proposed. I want to provide folks with an update on some of those issues.
Senate Democrats recently brought forward their Human Services budget and policy bills, both of which failed to gain meaningful bipartisan support, due in part to its misplaced priorities. This set of bills includes over $1 billion in reductions over the next four years that will hit our long-term care facilities, disability services, and nursing homes across the state.
I want to touch specifically on those proposed nursing home cuts. Despite the fact that these cuts amount to less than what the Governor proposed in his plan, they would still devastate local facilities. With this bill, nursing homes in Senate District 11 would see cuts totaling over $4 million over the next four years:
- Augustana Mercy Health in Moose Lake – $869,603
- Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton – $1,001,923
- Sandstone Health Care in Sandstone – $628,897
- Clare Living Community in Mora – $1,442,377
- The Estates at Rush City – $314,118
I want to remind folks that just a few years ago back in 2023, nursing homes and long-term care facilities were facing a dire situation. To answer their plea, Senate Republicans secured a $300 million lifeline that helped many facilities keep their doors open. We knew then that it was only a band-aid and we’d have to revisit the issue. Unfortunately, the cuts coming this year will undo all that great work. I’m concerned it will even force some facilities to close.
That brings me to my next point of contention – this bill preserves taxpayer-funded healthcare for undocumented immigrants through MinnesotaCare. This program just launched in January of this year. Originally, it was anticipated to have a first-year enrollment of about 5,874 individuals. Well, here we are, not even halfway through the year, and enrollees are totaling over 20,000. Because of this, cost projections have risen to a staggering $600 million over the next four years. There’s incredible concern that expenses for this program are spiraling out of control, and based on these numbers, I agree. Every dollar in this program is a dollar taken away from Minnesotans who are here legally. Republicans tried to offer amendments that would repeal the policy and redirect funding to our seniors, but Democrats used procedural votes to halt those discussions.
How do we explain this situation to our loved ones and the workers in those facilities? How do we tell them that Democrats did not want to give nursing facilities the funding needed to care for our most vulnerable, but were still willing to fund healthcare for those here illegally? This is a very concerning situation.
Despite the poor state of the bill overall, we were able to add a few helpful amendments. One would redirect $50 million in unspent nursing home loan funds to support Critical Access Nursing Facilities, which would help nursing homes in rural and underserved areas of our state. The original bill also included a major property tax hike disguised as a budget solution, but a key Republican amendment eliminated all county cost shifts. That will be something we’ll have to visit again in the future, but I’m glad we could make this fix for now.
As the bill currently stands, I cannot support it. It does too much harm to our most vulnerable Minnesotans. Democrats spent a historic surplus, created a $6 billion deficit, and are now asking our most vulnerable to pay the price of that. All that said, we still have time, and I’m still hopeful we can reach a better conclusion. We absolutely have to find other areas of government waste, fraud, and abuse to tackle – those should be our first cuts rather than critical services that Minnesotans rely on.