PolicyGuy

Thursday, January 27, 2005


Long-Term Care: Because That's Where the Money Is.
Minnesota's governor, Tim Pawlenty, has come out with a plan that cuts back on eligibility on the state's health care plan for non-elderly adults. But the real money in health care spending lies elsewhere.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says that Pawlenty plans to make changes to the eligibility limits to MinnesotaCare, without saying what they are. While no neighboring states have a plan this expansive, the money pales in comparison to long-term care.

Says the Strib: "According to the state Human Services Department, the state spent $270 million on MinnesotaCare in fiscal year 2004, but $1.1 billion on long-term care, including $428 million on nursing homes." That's a ratio of 4:1.

And the ratio is likely to remain unchanged, or perhaps increased:

Meanwhile, David Strom, president of the Minnesota Taxpayers League, had a concise explanation for why nursing homes would be protected while 27,000 people on MinnesotaCare would lose coverage. "Seniors vote," he said. "And they're a growing constituency. There's nothing shocking about that. In many rural communities, nursing homes are significant economic players. Nursing homes are sacrosanct in Minnesota politics."

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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