Sen. John Hoffman (SD36) Update: April 5, 2018

Hello friends and neighbors and welcome to week Seven of the 2018 Legislative session.  Although this is considered a break for the Easter and Passover Holidays there was a lot of activity in the areas I have Senate interest in. My newsletter this week is focusing on three particular items of concern and interest that I believe should be shared with the larger population and brought back into the conversation about what we are going to do next?

The first report I want to share with you is about Medicaid programs in Minnesota.  It has been over 50 years since the Medicaid program became law.  We know, as in a previous newsletter, 68% of all Federal dollars to Minnesota is for Medicaid and of that 70% is for Elderly and People with Disabilities. It is, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the cornerstone of our state’s health and long term care coverage systems.  Minnesota leads the nations in health care innovations and created Minnesota Care creating affordable coverage for approximately 89,000 individuals eligible for Medicaid. 

The second report I want to share is the Olmstead Plan quality of life survey which is designed to assess and track quality of life for people with disabilities in Minnesota.  This will get to the basic question for people with disabilities, “are we better off now?”

Finally, I want to share with you the 2018 survey of attitudes and outlook regarding healthcare services and costs. This was originally conducted in 2003 with the cooperation of U.S Senator David Durenberger’s Minnesota Citizens Forum on Healthcare Costs.

The results of the 2018 Survey along with the Olmstead Plan survey were shared and distributed during the Governors Developmental Disabilities Council meeting this past Wednesday.  I am happy to share all of these with you and hope it moves in you, like it has in me, a call for action and a call for reform as we have lots to do in Minnesota and we must continue with the great work started by Senator Durenberger to do what is right for people with disabilities in Minnesota.

Sincerely,

Senator John Hoffman

Medicaid Matters

It’s been more than 50 years since the Medicaid program was signed into law. Today, Minnesota’s Medicaid program is a cornerstone of our state’s system of health and long-term care coverage, with more than one million people, including children, parents, people with disabilities and seniors covered in 2017. Over the years, the program has helped Minnesota lead the nation in health care innovations, such as the creation of Minnesota Care, a health insurance program that provides affordable coverage to approximately 89,000 Minnesotans who are ineligible for Medicaid. The goal of this report is to highlight why Medicaid matters for every Minnesotan by telling the story of Medicaid’s history in the state, offering a detailed snapshot of who is currently eligible and what services they receive and describing Medicaid’s impact on our state’s individual communities.

Medicaid Matters Link to Online Report

Olmstead Plan Quality of Life Survey

The Quality of Life survey is a part of Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan. This plan is designed to ensure that people with disabilities are living, learning, working, and enjoying life in their community.

The Quality of Life (QOL) Survey measures changes or improvements in the lives of people with disabilities. This is the first time the survey has been implemented in Minnesota.

The goal of the survey is to answer the question, “Are you better off now than you were before?”  We will be interviewing people with disabilities all over the State of Minnesota about their quality of life. The State will use this information from the survey to improve options and choices for people with disabilities throughout the state.

Check out Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan? Click here: http://bit.ly/mnolmsteadplan

2018 Minnesota General Population Survey of Attitudes and Outlook Regarding Healthcare Services and Costs

In 2004 US Senator David Durenberger was head of the Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs. The Forum was tasked with addressing a “crisis of affordability” of health care. Its 18 members traveled the state for three months, conducting Town Hall meetings and listening sessions, gathering ideas from fellow citizens on what the state’s health care system should look like.

The Minnesota Citizens Forum worked with the Minnesota Board on Aging and the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities to develop and conduct a 20-minute telephone survey of a representative sample of 800 Minnesotans. The resulting Health Care Opinion Poll obtained measures of satisfaction with health care quality and costs, perceptions regarding changes in costs and payment responsibilities, and preferences for universal health care versus private health care insurance.

Fourteen years later, in 2018, the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities replicated the opinion poll and surveyed over 1000 Minnesotans.

My takeaway from both the 2004 and 2018 public attitudes survey is that even in MN, where people have been more than willing to use public policy and resources to improve the health and access to health care of the less fortunate, there’s a limit which is in proportion to the increasing costs of access to health care and disability services.

So the message then and the message now is that we need to call the health system itself – from insurance companies to hospitals to health professionals to assisted living centers to the medical technology industry to the health information technology industry to account for not increasing the health of our people, and not containing the increase in the costs of poor health and disabilities from whatever cause including aging.

The message to the next Governor and Legislature is:  “Enough already.  Get a handle on health system reform.  Get it done and and start by getting the partisan politics out of health reform!

http://mn.gov/mnddc/