Friends,
It's been a busy first couple weeks in Saint Paul. We've been hard at work to fight for common sense issues that all Minnesotans agree on. Below is a quick recap of the biggest issues of the first few weeks. Have a great week!
Democrats Pushing for Sick Tax
Last Tuesday, my colleagues and I held a press conference urging the new DFL House Majority and Governor Walz to not raise health care costs on Minnesotans by restoring the sick tax—a 2 percent tax levied on most patient services in Minnesota, including things like baby deliveries, chemotherapy treatments, routine doctor visits, emergency room visits, and more. The so-called Provider Tax literally makes being sick a taxable event. The tax is set to expire starting January 1, 2020. Restoring the tax would result in a more than $600 million increase on health care costs for Minnesotans next year alone.
There are currently hundreds of millions of dollars being wasted through fraud and abuse. Last year, numbers from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Budget Director indicated that Minnesota is losing tens of millions of dollars per month by failing to implement periodic data matching (PDM), which helps verify program eligibility for Minnesota public programs. DHS has acknowledged that fraud within the childcare assistance program is a "big problem," costing the state tens of millions of dollars, and the non-partisan legislative auditor has released multiple reports detailing hundreds of millions in public program benefits going to recipients who are not eligible. We don’t need to tax sick people. We need to hold agencies and individuals accountable in order to fund healthcare needs in Minnesota.
House Democrats and Governor Walz promised Minnesotans last fall they would work to lower the cost of care. We are simply calling on Democrats to make sure their actions this session live up to their words.
March for Life
On Tuesday, the annual March for Life took place on the Minnesota Capitol grounds. Despite the frigid weather, thousands of pro-life Minnesotans came out to show their unwavering support for life. It was a great event for a truly important cause. Click the photo below to see a brief video from the event.
Rep. Neu on the Capitol steps at the 2019 March for Life
Please Contact Me
As the session continues, please feel free to contact me with any questions or thoughts that you have on any matter of state government. Your input helps me to best represent our community, and I appreciate you taking the time to reach out. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-5377 or by email at rep.anne.neu@house.mn. My office is located on the second floor of the State Office Building in room 261.
Sincerely,
Anne