Capitol Update from Rep. Deb Kiel

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Here is an update with the latest news from St. Paul.

Negotiations

Budget negotiations are ongoing between the DFL House, GOP Senate, and the DFL Governor. We haven’t gotten much new information, but the sticking point seems to be whether or not to raise taxes on Minnesotans. As a reminder, the DFL budget proposes an increase in taxes of over $12 billion across all budget areas.

Sick Tax

One of the key sticking points in negotiations seems to be the sick tax on doctor visits, hospital stays, and most medical procedures. There seems to be a lot of confusion over what the sick tax actually pays for among the people advocating for it to continue. The advocates have been saying that if the sick tax sunsets as scheduled, we will lose funding for Minnesota Care.

In fact, of the projected $684 million the sick tax is set to bring in to the Health Care Access Fund for 2019, only $21 million of that would go towards Minnesota Care. The bulk of the total would go towards Medical Assistance. If the sick tax were to sunset as planned, that portion of Medical Assistance would go back to being funded from the General Fund, like it was before 2014.

The sick tax is really problematic for our Greater Minnesota healthcare providers. It is hard enough to start a business as a new provider in rural areas, and raising the cost of health care only makes it harder for those businesses to succeed.

Also, the tax adds to the cost of procedures, hospital stays, and doctor visits, and I don’t believe we should tax people needing healthcare. On childbirth alone, the sick tax adds about $230.54 for a traditional birth and $354.10 for a c-section. That amount of tax could buy a lot of diapers and other newborn supplies – there is no reason to take that money away from new parents, or any other patients, and give it to the state when we already have over a billion dollar surplus.

School Visits

We’ve had a lot of school groups visiting the Capitol this week.  Early this week, students from Win-E-Mac and Goodridge were here to visit, and Thursday we had visits from Fosston, Thief River Falls, and Red Lake County Central. This afternoon, a group of students from Crookston were here to visit. I always love visiting with students from across our district!

It’s an honor and privilege to work for you at the Capitol. Don’t hesitate to contact my office at any time this session to share your thoughts, concerns or ideas. I am here to serve you!

Sincerely,

Deb