Minnesota Hospital Association estimates impact of GAMC cuts, projects 7,600 health care jobs lost

As the Legislature scrambled last weekend to counter Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s announcement that he would veto and unallot his way to a balanced budget, some of the most dramatic testimony about the impact of his first big line-item veto–of $381 million in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) funds for FY2011–got swallowed up in the tumult. So it’s worth revisiting now as health care providers around the state begin to reckon with the coming cuts.

Late on Saturday night, Mary Krinkie of the Minnesota Hospital Association told the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy that the GAMC cuts would likely eliminate over 7,500 jobs in the state’s hospital system. (That’s based on the assumption that every $1 million in defunding would cause 20 jobs to be cut in response.)

Earlier, the hospital association had distributed a worksheet estimating the impact of the GAMC cuts on Minnesota hospitals on a case-by-case basis. (The release, you’ll notice, incorrectly identifies the cuts as "unallotments.") The numbers are eye-popping, ranging from $109 million at Hennepin County Medical Center and $46 million at St. Paul Regions down to a few hundred thousand at smaller rural facilities.

Republicans at LCPFP, led by Sen. Gen Olson (Minnetrista), immediately cried foul on the cost estimates, pointing out that the MnHA numbers presumed hospitals would take the whole $381 million hit, whereas they currently receive only 40 percent of GAMC funds, The sensible-seeming rejoinder was that when community clinics and other providers lost GAMC funding, all or nearly all of the resulting burden would fall to hospital emergency rooms, which by law have to provide care regardless of ability to pay.

In tomorrow’s subscriber-only Weekly Report, we’ll be featuring an interview with Lawrence Massa, the president of the Minnesota Hospital Association, about those numbers and the post-veto plight of the state’s hospitals.

One Response to “Minnesota Hospital Association estimates impact of GAMC cuts, projects 7,600 health care jobs lost”

1. Judy Jantvold Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 12:50 am

   I am disabled and waiting to get Disability, how am I supposed to survie!! I am staying with my Sister and she is losing her house, which leaves me with no medical care and know place to live. What is going on with our government!! But they sure pay for illeagal alliens!!!!!!