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Diverse Group of More Than 50 Organizations Demand Plan for Health Care Access Fund

January 31, 2019

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (Jan. 31, 2019) — More than 50 diverse Minnesota advocacy organizations have joined together in a letter to lawmakers to show support for maintaining the Health Care Access Fund.

“This funding is critical to the health and wellbeing of so many vulnerable Minnesotans,” said Emily Myatt, ACS CAN Minnesota interim government relations director. “We can’t cross our fingers and hope for the best. We need to find a way to cover these costs when the provider tax runs out. If we don’t, patients, families and health care providers will suffer when patients need care they can’t pay for.”

The letter shows support for finding a new funding source. One in five Minnesotans depend on public health care programs that are funded in part by the Health Care Access Fund. The provider tax is the largest source of revenue to the Health Care Access Fund but is scheduled to sunset in December 2019. Allowing the provider tax to expire without identifying dedicated future funding would jeopardize access to health care for thousands of Minnesotans and threaten prevention programs needed to curb rising health care costs.

The organizations that have signed on to the letter to lawmakers are:

 

A.C.E. of SW Minnesota

Allina Health

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

American Heart Association

Arthritis Foundation

AspireMN

Association of Minnesota Counties

Catholic Charities of St. Paul & Minneapolis

Christ the King Lutheran Church, Bloomington

Christ the King Lutheran Community Health Initiative

City of Bloomington/Public Health Division

Clare Housing

Community Health Organization

Des Moines Valley Health and Human Services

Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota

Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare

Goodhue County Health and Human Services

Goodhue County Live Well

Hardwick Fire and Rescue

Hennepin County

Hennepin Healthcare

Horizon Public Health

Itasca County Public Health

JustUs Health

Kandiyohi County

Kenyon Community Garden

Living Well Disability Services

Local Public Health Association of Minnesota

Metropolitan Center for Independent Living (MCIL)

Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians

Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers (MNACHC)

Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs (MACMHP)

Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance

Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Minnesota Community Care

Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

Minnesota Hospital Association

Minnesota Independence College and Community (MICC)

Minnesota Inter-County Association (MICA)

Minnesota Medical Association

Minnesota Public Health Association

Minnesota Speech-Language-Hearing Association

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

National Psoriasis Foundation

Pine County Public Health

Proof Alliance (formerly MOFAS)

Scott County Public Health

Sherburne County

Southwest Health & Human Services

St. Louis County

The Arc Minnesota

The City of Minneapolis

The Kenyon Leader Newspaper

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Twin Cities Medical Society

Western Mental Health Center

 

 

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Media Contacts

Emily Myatt
interim government relations director
Eagan, MN