Health care presentation encourages reform

Sen. John Marty comes to Mankato

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — A state senator from Roseville and a physician from St. Paul drove to Mankato Thursday and spent two hours talking about a health care reform bill they know isn’t going to become law next year or the year after or probably the year after that.

But Democratic Sen. John Marty, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, is planning to do a lot of presentations like the one at St. John’s Episcopal Church over the next few years. And, more notably, he is scheduling more meetings with local Chambers of Commerce, hospital administration organizations and others who have traditionally opposed dramatic changes in American health care.

“We’ve got a three-to-four-year plan to educate people,” Marty said to an audience of about 30 people, most of whom seemed sympathetic to his plan.

That time frame also brings the end of the second term of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has made clear he won’t support Marty’s legislation.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have signed on, including 60 who were co-authors this year. And business organizations and other traditional skeptics of similar legislation are showing a willingness to listen, Marty said.

“I think they’re beginning to recognize the system is broken, something needs to happen,” he said. “... We’ve got a disaster on our hands.”

Ever-rising health care costs are straining employers’ budgets, pushing average Minnesotans into bankruptcy and leaving 400,000 residents without coverage. His proposal, the Minnesota Health Act, attempts to take Minnesota where most other industrial nations have gone — a health care system where everybody’s care is covered and a government-organized funding pool pays the bills.

Letts said doctors are increasingly supportive of the idea.

“Physicians are there, finally,” he said. “There’s enough frustration among health care professionals — nurses, physicians and such — that I think change is coming.”

The plan would provide full coverage of all medical care, including prescriptions, preventive care and other care provided by licensed professionals. The coverage would no longer be attached to employment, deductibles and co-payments would be eliminated, patients would be able to pick their doctor and clinic, and care couldn’t be denied for pre-existing conditions.

The treatment would be funded by taxes based on ability to pay and would be administered by an independent board.

Blue Earth County Commissioner Katy Wortel of Mankato opened the questioning by pointing out the idea’s long-standing political flaw.

“What you’re really talking about is a middleman — or somebody who’s making money — not making money,” Wortel said, asking how they would address the inevitable opposition from insurance companies, underwriters, hospital billing clerks and others whose livelihood would be eliminated.

“There is going to be some displacement,” Marty said, adding that the plan may eventually include provisions for helping with job retraining.

But the flip side is the cost savings from that displacement, he said.

Paperwork consumes about 30 percent of health care spending in America — compared to just more than 2 percent in Taiwan, which enacted a national health plan in 1995, according to Marty. Health care would cost less in Minnesota, and new businesses would be drawn to the state.

Letts said sticking with the current system isn’t a realistic alternative in the long term.

“People can’t afford it,” he said. “Employers can’t afford it. That’s why we’re seeing a collapse. That’s why it’s going to fail.”

Beyond cost, there are health benefits that come with a publicly funded program that covers everybody and gets them necessary preventative care before their medical condition worsens.

“Less pain, suffering and death for people, that’s why we support it,” Letts said.

One woman in the audience recalled attending a similar meeting led by Paul Wellstone, who died six years ago last month.

While there’s been no obvious progress for a single-payer program in all those years, Marty said he’s not listening to those who say it’s politically unrealistic.

“Maybe we just need to redefine what’s politically realistic,” he said.

Details of the legislation are available at www.mnhealthplan.org.