Health care services for poor Minnesotans have been a familiar target in Gov. Tim Pawlenty's austerity exercises over the years, and they found themselves under the scalpel again Tuesday.
Nevertheless, health care executives, who have been bracing for deep new cuts since the Legislature adjourned, said the governor's cuts could have been worse.
On Tuesday, Pawlenty said health and human services will come in for $236 million in additional cuts as part of his unallotment strategy. The list of about 20 cuts to health services includes:
• Eliminating one program for the poor, General Assistance Medical Care, six weeks sooner than expected, saving $15 million. GAMC will now go away on March 1, 2010.
• Suspending General Fund payments to the Transitional MinnesotaCare insurance program, replacing them with money from the Health Care Access Fund.
• Reducing hours for personal care attendants, who serve fragile and disabled people, from a maximum of 310 hours to 275 hours per month.
Pawlenty noted he was proposing no new payment reductions for primary care doctors and clinics, and no additional cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals that serve a large number of poor patients. "I don't want to suggest there are no impacts to hospitals," Pawlenty said. "But they are not going to be as large as they had feared."
The cuts will take effect starting July 1.