Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning…

BEMIDJI: Fellow DFLer announces bid to unseat state Sen. Mary Olson. Greg Paquin told DFL Chair Brian Melendez that Ojibwe Native Americans should hold all legislative offices in Senate Districts 2 and 4; now he’s running for one (SD 4). [Bemidji Pioneer]

STATEWIDE: State shed 16,700 jobs in June. The state’s unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent, still below the national 9.5 percent. The staggering loss since June 2008 is 112,000 jobs. [Associated Press]

DULUTH: Surf’s up, and so are the ‘No Water Contact Recommended‘ signs. As if today’s fall-like weather isn’t enough, illness-inducing bacteria is spoiling the summer fun at five Duluth beaches. [Duluth News Tribune]

ST. PAUL: Journos withhold bylines to protest layoffs. No talks, no names — that’s the word from St. Paul Pioneer Press news workers who say management wouldn’t consider concessions as an alternative to pink slips. [MinnPost; St. Paul Pioneer Press]

ALEXANDRIA: Council considers putting teeth in golf-cart ordinance. A proposed $25 permit fee would put a price on puttering down city streets. [Alexandria Echo Press]

MINNEAPOLIS: Sign ban would leave sandwich-seekers hungry. So-called sandwich signs guide shoppers to locally-owned businesses, but a council member wants them gone. [MPLS Mirror]

Photo: MNHS.org

The debate over how to fix Minnesota’s health care crisis bubbled up in a committee meeting Tuesday, with some saying that health care is a community good akin to fire and police protection and others advocating that the free market is the best approach. One insurance industry representative even suggested that those with the most money should have the best access to health care.

Legislators aim to provide some relief to the increasing number of Minnesotans losing their health insurance by offering the Minnesota Health Plan Act, which would make the state of Minnesota the insurance pool for all Minnesotans. It’s a tactic supporters say would lower costs for everybody and free small businesses from the increasing costs of paying for its employees’ premiums.

The bill was heard in the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, where it passed by a vote of 7-3, with the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party supporting it and Republicans opposing it.

“The plan would not only end the problem of access to health care due to cost, but also access to providers, which is especially critical in smaller communities,” said Sen. John Marty, the lead author of the bill.

He said Minnesotans would have a “100 percent choice” in their doctors and clinics, and people wouldn’t have to worry about losing their health insurance when they lose their jobs, switch employers or graduate from college.

“This health plan is not cheap by any sense of the imagination,” Marty said, “but it is less than what we spend now.”

Marty said he doesn’t expect the bill to pass this year, but hopes that laying the groundwork now will give the bill better success in the future.

Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, said it’s something her constituents want. “I’ve had a lot of community meetings in my district and the overwhelming issue I am hearing about is the cost of health care,” she said. “When I talk to people about the Minnesota Health Plan they say, ‘Well, why aren’t you getting this done?!’”

She noted, “If we are going to get this done, it is going to have to happen at the grassroots.”

A panel of supporters provided emotional testimony of how the current system has failed them. Lisa Sherman of Stillwater spoke about the difficulties she has had with her insurance company. Her son is autistic and requires cognitive and physical therapies, some of which the company wouldn’t cover. Even for those that were covered she had to pay significant co-pays just to get a letter from a physician to prove the necessity.

“The system doesn’t work and this is why we need a universal comprehensive system of coverage like the Minnesota Health Plan,” she said. “Insurance companies don’t understand [treatment for autism] and don’t want to pay for it.”

Dr. Ann Settgast, a primary care physician in St.Paul and member of Physicians for a National Health Plan, testified about her experiences as a physician.

“As a doctor, I get a first-hand view of how broken the system is,” she told the committee. “As a doctor and a citizen, I firmly believe that health care is a right… In a direct sense, health care alleviates human suffering.”

Nancy Breymeier of the Metro Independent Business Alliance (MIBA) spoke of the burdens small businesses face in providing health care to their employees. She told the story of one of the businesses in the alliance that had an employee file a claim for a major illness. The premiums for that business doubled overnight.

“We do not have the numbers to spread the risk so our health premiums are much higher,” she said of the small-business members of MIBA.

But the insurance industry and big business railed against the bill.

“We agree that reform is needed in this country,” said Julie Brunner, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans. The council comprises Minnesota’s eight nonprofit insurance companies. “Universal coverage should be all of our goal. However, a government-run system in Minnesota is not the solution. … There are problems in every country that has a government-run system.”

Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, took issue with the push for a market-based fix. “The one thing we can’t seem to accommodate in a market-based health care system is universal coverage or coverage for everybody,” she said. “And that for me is the selling point of a system that is similar to this.”

But is was the testimony from Mike Burress of the Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters, a group that represents insurance brokers, agents and consultants, that raised the eyebrows of many at the hearing.

Burris was adamant about keeping the current free-market system. “The theory that government takeover can really lower cost or increases efficiencies is not a proven one,” he said. He also said that quality care is affordable to those who work hard for it.

“Did you kind of imply that if you work really hard and earn more money that you should have access to a better health plan and therefore better health care?” asked committee chairwoman Sen. Linda Scheid, DFL-Brooklyn Park.

“As with cars and housing and everything else, absolutely!” responded Burris. That was met with boos and laughs from many in the hearing room.

“I guess you did mean to say that,” Sheid said.

“Yes! I surely did. This is America, not a socialist state, yet,” Burris shot back.

That spurred more conversation about the “car-buying” model of health care. Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, said, “When I talk to people on the ground and patients… The idea that they are going to go and cost shop for a doctor is so out of touch with how we actually access health care, especially in rural communities where we are lucky if we can even get in to see a doctor,” she said. “Its really just disingenuous to act like there is this free-market system out there where people can utilize it like they were going to buy a car… It just doesn’t work that way.”

But Scheid found the discussion enlightening and influential. She thanked Marty for his testimony and those of the witnesses. “I think that the conversation today has been real helpful to me. I finally… I think get it.”

Roll call of the vote on the Minnesota Health Plan Act:

Linda Scheid, DFL-Brooklyn Park: Aye
Kevin L. Dahle, DFL-Northfield: Aye
Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley: No
Debbie J. Johnson, R-Ham Lake: No
John Marty, DFL-Roseville: Aye
James P. Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul: Aye
Mary A. Olson, DFL-Bemidji: Aye
Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth: Aye
Dan Skogen, DFL-Hewitt: Aye
Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest lake: No

Photo by Lisa Yarost, Flickr

As the budget battle at the state Capitol gets going, MinnesotaRepublicans are promising to obstruct efforts to both cut expenses and raise taxes. DFLers are looking at a pending stimulus plan from the White House in February in order to guide how the budget session takes place. And at least one DFLer thinks that Gov. Tim Pawlenty might change his stance on taxes (or “revenue enhancements”) to help fill a historic $4.8 billion deficit.

House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, says his caucus would not vote for any tax increases, with the only possible revenue generator an expansion of state-sponsored gambling. He called any tax increase “dead on arrival” during a press conference late last week.

Pawlenty continues to talk of “no new taxes,”but Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, allows that Pawlenty has indicated he would support “revenue enhancements,” and those enhancements could mean sales taxes on food and clothing.

“If I’m correct in reading between the lines, that is the kind of revenue enhancement the governor means, but I don’t know,” Olson told the Bemidji Pioneer.

On the other half of the equation to balance the budget, Seifert wants to put DFLers on the hook for what will surely be painful cuts to public programs and services. In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio’s Kerri Miller last month, Seifert said, “I probably will not be voting for any of these cuts.”

And he won’t be encouraging his fellow Republicans to support cuts either. “The budget bills coming up, I will be giving suggestions, ideas and the like on how to balance the budget,” he said. “But I can tell you that the political road is littered with the bodies of House Republicans who made tough decisions on balancing the budget.”

While the Republican caucus looks for ways to pin painful cuts on Democrats, DFLers are working toward the very real possibility that an Obama administration will be sending a large sum of money to Minnesota. MinnPost spoke late last week with DFLers who anticipate anywhere between $1 billion and $10 billion to eventually show up in Minnesota. The DFL’s first bills submitted this week are tailored to streamline any stimulus money.

Some Republicans say that if the bill does not meet their standards, they might vote to reject the money.

Photo: Lisa Yarost

Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, says she plans to introduce the bill during the 2008 legislative session. The district she represents includes some of the state’s best known water bodies, including Cass, Gull and Pelican lakes.

A public meeting on the concept hosted by Olson on Tuesday drew about two dozen people, including members of lake associations along with water quality regulators and environmental advocates.

As it’s currently envisioned, the Star Lake proposal would set up voluntary partnerships between state agencies and lakeshore owners. Those that meet certain to-be-determined criteria would earn the Star Lake designation.Tuesday’s meeting was meant to draw ideas on what criteria should be included, Olson said. They included things like planting shoreline vegetation, creating conservation easements and ensuring septic systems are tested. Click here to read Olson’s summary.

The idea isn’t intended to be a comprehensive solution to water quality problems, but with state agencies strapped for dollars, Olson said she hopes it might be a way to make those resources go further by involving associations.

“This is one proposal to provide specific recognition to lake associations that go above and beyond what’s required by the law,” Olson said.