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Legislative News and Views - Rep. John Persell (DFL)

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RELEASE: Minnesota House Expected to Approve Health and Human Services Budget

Thursday, April 25, 2019

SAINT PAUL, MN — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives is expected to approve a Health and Human Services budget that would strengthen health care for all Minnesotans.

“All Minnesotans deserve access to affordable, high-quality health care,” said Rep. John Persell (DFL – Bemidji). “Reducing costs and expanding access will help strengthen health care and ensure that Minnesotans can get the care they need when they need it.”

The budget addresses the high costs of health care and prescription drugs. Minnesotans who purchase their health insurance on the individual market would receive a direct 20 percent premium discount. Funding for the Health Care Access Fund, which encourages innovation and provides care for more than one million low-income Minnesotans, is preserved. The budget would help ensure that Minnesotans can access the medications that they count on. It leverages the state’s purchasing power to reduce prices, prohibits price gouging, and increases transparency.

The budget also expands coverage options. Governor Walz’s ONEcare proposal, which gives Minnesotans the opportunity to purchase an insurance plan with a provider network and benefits similar to MinnesotaCare, is included.

Improving eldercare is a key component of the budget. It would address abuse, assault, neglect, and other maltreatment in Minnesota’s assisted living facilities and nursing homes with new licensing requirements, clarifications of residents’ rights, protections against retaliation, and prohibition on deceptive, misleading, and aggressive marketing practices.

Rep. Persell’s legislation to provide grants to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe to deliver child welfare services was also included in the budget.

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