The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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June 29, 2009

Your View — Cuts will kill our health care system

Wendy Allen, Mankato

Gov. Pawlenty’s cuts in the field of human services will affect the people of Mankato. Pawlenty’s 2.58 percent services cut in reimbursement doesn’t sound like a lot until you begin to add up the numbers and the people this affects.

I am director of nursing for WildRose Home Health Services. Home health care agencies in Minnesota already receive little reimbursement for their services. Personal Care Attendant reimbursement was $16.24/hour. This is to cover administrative costs, nursing supervision and wages for the personal care attendant. Now the 2.58 percent cut decreases this reimbursement to $15.84/hour. Somehow each agency must either absorb this decreasing revenue or pass it on to its employees. For the hard-working employees who serve our community by caring for the ill and disabled in their homes, this translates to pay cuts that make it difficult for them to survive. And yes, most of these employees are “just happy to have jobs.” But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hit hard.

Most are lucky if they make $10 per hour and now $9.75 is even harder to swallow. Many have to work multiple agencies to make ends meet. And to make it even worse, Pawlenty has now put limits on how many hours they can work.

Good employees are always hard to find in the health care business. Finding quality employees for lower wages to care for difficult clients in an industry where the hours are often staggered and involve multiple shifts throughout the day just became more difficult.

Our citizens who have health care deserve to have high-quality, trained, competent and motivated staff. Homecare employees deserve better. Our health care system is broken.

Pawlenty just added another nail to the coffin.

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