Putting A Face on The Governor’s Budget Cuts

3 Responses to “Putting A Face on The Governor’s Budget Cuts”

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• Don Huizenga

  May 13, 2009 at 5:23 am

  I appreciate the drama in this story…really. There seems to be no sacred cow anymore. To the DFL, everything is sacred. Education, health care, roads and bridges, etc, etc, etc. If by posting these stories you are trying to demonstrate that all levels of government are run so efficiently as to never allow for any reduction in budgets and costs, you failed. The fact is, all of us must “pay the piper”. Budget reductions at these and other facilities do NOT mean they will close, it does NOT mean the best doctors and nurses will be laid off, it does NOT mean that the very care these people in the video speak about will be gone. What it does mean is that the hospitals must find the waste in their systems and remove it. It means the hospitals must rid themselves of employees who do not work as hard and who do not contribute to the efficiency of the hospital. It means the hospitals must find ways to be more efficient, more effective, and more fiscally responsible. Is that hard? Sure it is. But, its not beneath their ability.

  But, I ask you this. I have seen, on this site, some demands for both budget increases and budget cuts to balance the budget. Where do YOU think the budget cuts should come from…and do you think that said budget cuts will have NO affect on some people…some where?

  I like the idea of a utopia. It sounds nice. But do we sacrifice everything to create a utopia? Because if we do…is it really a utopia we will have if we succeed?

  Reply
  • Northeaster

    May 13, 2009 at 10:37 am

    Here’s a HHS cut I could get behind because it is a complete waste of taxpayer revenue:

    My college-aged daughter is too old to be covered under our family’s health insurance (it cut her off at 21), requiring her to fend for herself. Since she is a full-time student with a part-time job she does not quilify for health isurance via her employer. Her school (UMD) offers a health insurance program which is mandatory if she cannot find her own insurance, but the costs of this program are prohibitive (~$1000 per semester, tacked onto her tuition bill). To make ends meet, she applied for and qualified for MinnesotaCare.

    MinnesotaCare is a fine program allowing her to select from around a half-dozen insurance providers (UCare, Health Partners, etc) and charges her a reasonable monthly premium. Unfortunately, the program is still fraught with wasteful peril. Every month she receives a bill for her premium, as well as a weekly notification via snail mail stating that unless she pays her premium she’ll be dropped from the program. As a result, MinnesotaCare spends roughly $6-7 per month on postage to each individual in the program just on billing issues. Additionally, MinnesotaCare sends out a 2-inch thick book of health and dental providers covered under her selected insurer which costs around $5-7 to mail. Typically, the book is only updated annually but is mailed out semi-annually. This book is also available online, which is how she looks up provider info when needed. She typically throws the hardcopy book in the trash upon receipt (not unlike the ridiculously numerous phone books we get delivered every few months). I don’t know the total number of individuals covered under MinnesotaCare, but if they’re all receiving these mailings, that’s an incredible waste of resources and taxpayer money. If the billings and notifications can be done via email for those opting for such, the costs could be slashed and if the coverage book was only mailed out to those who request it rather than to all program members, the money saved could definitely be used elsewhere.

    Like I said, MinnesotaCare is a fine program for those who cannot get proper health coverage via traditional sources, but if they were to streamline the system and make reasonable cuts to their communications model they’d probably save millions over the course of a year. This is just one state program - If they could all look to make reasonable cuts then things may not look as bad as they do right now.

    We can’t look at budget items as some being more necessary than others. We can’t expect to completely cut off programs while others continue to be wasteful. We’re all educated people for the most part - We can figure this out. But the people with the biggest say in the matter (politicians and bureaucrats) have to agree to do their jobs wisely.

    Reply
• SeanH

  May 13, 2009 at 10:18 am

  Don, facilities will close and people will be laid off. That is the unfortunate truth. But the fact is this mess cannot be fixed using Pawlenty’s cuts coupled with borrowing (unconstitutional to balance the MN budget using borrowing, BTW) and accounting gimmicks. There HAS to be an increase in revenue. And cuts HAVE to be made.

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