Today the Senate passed a broad Health and Human Services omnibus bill that fails to assist patients, and instead focuses on costly mandates, funding controversial grants, and growing welfare programs. The cost of the bill equates to $6.1 billion in fiscal year 24-25, and $6.6 billion in fiscal year 26-27.
The bill has a number of concerning provisions:
- Study on the implementation of single-payer healthcare in Minnesota
- “Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act” mandating hospitals to create nurse staffing committees
- Creation of a Healthcare Affordability Board, comprised of government appointees, and an additional Health Care Affordability Advisory Council, which is appointed by the Governor for the sole purpose of providing advice to the Board
- Public option buy-out which will drive up costs by forcing medical assistance enrollees to move to fee-for-service plans
- Creation of a state-funded cost-sharing reduction program, which will increase the cost of care
- Additional funds for the fraud-ridden Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
- An increase of payment rates for abortion services by 10%
“Health care is expensive and complicated, and instead of working to make it affordable and accessible for families, Senate Democrats have brought forward a bill that focuses heavily on mandates and increased spending,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake). “Today’s bill sets a dangerous precedent of charging more for less, and Minnesotans simply cannot afford to see rising costs in another area.”
Included language denotes a clear intent to move Minnesota to a single-player healthcare system. The bill funds and requires the Commissioner of Health to contract an analysis of the benefits and costs of universal health care financing proposals. Senate Republicans offered an amendment to eliminate this from the bill, but it was not accepted.
The most controversial provision is undoubtedly the inclusion of the “Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act.” This contentious language mandates that hospitals create a hospital nurse staffing committee to create and implement staffing plans to guide the creation of daily staffing schedules for each inpatient care unit in the hospital. With hospitals across the state being short-staffed, there is great concern that this Act will do the opposite of its namesake and will instead pull nurses away from patients. This section of the bill also sets an unattainable nursing staffing ratio and gives nurses discretion to refuse care to patients. This section also fails to address violence against healthcare workers in any meaningful way.
Senate Republicans offered a number of key amendments to the bill, which were struck down:
- Transfer of funding to school-based mental health programs (Sen. Gruenhagen)
- Parental consent for school-based health center treatments (Sen. Lieske)
- Creation of a Nursing Compact with other states (Sen. Nelson)
- Sharing of cost savings for prescriptions where a rebate is provided (Sen. Nelson)
The Senate did opt to accept an amendment offered by Sen. Rasmusson, which expands Optometrist Scope of Practice language, and an amendment offered by Sen. Pratt, which keeps costs down and assures the state pays healthcare providers in a timely manner.