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Julie Schnell
President
SEIU Local 113

Testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division Committee                       February 16 – Capitol Room 15

Good morning [MA – dim] Chair, members of the committee, my name is Julie Schnell - President of SEIU Local 113.  We represent 14,000 hospital, clinic and nursing home workers across Minnesota.

Our members are committed to providing the best care for their patients. Yet, surprisingly, many of members cannot afford – either for themselves or their own families - the same care they provide to other people every day at.  For example, prior to negotiations for 6,000 service and maintenance workers in major Twin City hospitals, we discovered that almost half could not afford their employers health care plan.

Governor Pawlenty proposed 2006-2007 budget cancels health care coverage for more than 45,000 people currently paying for it through MinnesotaCare.

These cuts come on top of the Governor’s proposed cut of 5% in hospital reimbursement rates and at least $45 billion in cuts to Medicaid recently proposed by President Bush.

Front-line health care workers know what people in the Governor's office do not:  You can cut line items in a health care budget, but how can you deny care to people who turn up at hospital emergency rooms?

People forced off Minnesota Care will not disappear.  They will show up in emergency rooms and as charity care cases.  They will show up with more serious and more expensive medical problems.

When they cannot pay their medical bills, hospitals will be forced to make up the difference.  The Minnesota Hospital Association estimated that the rate of uncompensated care jumped by 28 percent in 2004.

Those dollars must come from somewhere.  Too often, they come from reduced staffing hours for health care workers.  They come from eliminating health care positions.  And they come from increasing the cost of health care insurance for health care workers.

It is not just health care workers who suffer.  Providers pass on much of the cost to private insurers.  Insurers, in turn, raise premiums, deductibles and co-pays.  This drives up the cost for everyone.

What Gov. Pawlenty claims to save now will be paid latter.   The cost will be paid by Minnesota workers.  The cost will be paid by employers who try to do the right thing and provide health care.

To conclude, reducing eligibility for MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance makes it more difficult for our members to best provide for their patients.  The inadequate staffing and equipment that results make it more difficult for our members to perform their jobs.   By driving up the cost of health care for all, the Governor makes it more difficult for our members – along with all other Minnesotans - to obtain quality, affordable health care for their families.