Gov. Walz declares "Medicaid and Medicare Day" in Minnesota, highlighting "cruel" impact of funding cuts

CBS News

5 days ago

Sixty years ago this Wednesday, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation that created Medicaid and Medicare.
Medicaid provides health insurance for people with low incomes, while Medicare provides health insurance to people 65 and older, regardless of their income.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz declared Wednesday "Medicaid and Medicare Day," and marked the day by discussing the anticipated impacts that President Trump's cuts will have on health care in the state, particularly for those in Greater Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services announced earlier this week an estimated 140,000-plus Minnesotans will lose health insurance due to Mr. Trump's "big, beautiful bill," and health care funding reductions are expected to cost the state more than $1 billion in the first four years.
His office also says the changes could "increase out-of-pocket costs for enrollees while straining hospitals and county government with higher administrative burdens."
"The pain this is going to cause, and I again, I think there is a strong philosophical and economic argument to be made that our health care system still needs massive reforms, and that there's a potential to try and find savings, this is about the opposite of that," Walz said, alongside several health care providers during a visit to M Health Fairview St. John's Hospital in Maplewood. "This will actually exacerbate all those things. This is a cruel, unneeded piece of legislation that appeals to base emotions, while parting the burden on all the folks that stand up here that provide that care."
The president's budget bill cuts more than $1 trillion in Medicaid funding over the next decade, and requires new work requirements for able-bodied recipients.
WCCO's Esme Murphy spoke earlier this month with Dr. Tyler Winkelman of Hennepin Healthcare in downtown Minneapolis, who said half of his hospital's patients — about 95,000 people — are on Medicaid. He says the cuts will cause his hospital to lose $145 million a year in funding, leading to long ER wait times and fewer specialty programs.
Also earlier this month, UCare officials said Medicaid cuts will impact about 88,000 of its patients.
Last week, Minnesota House Republicans and the state's Republican Congressional Delegation called for an audit of several state Medicaid-related programs amid an FBI investigation into a "massive scheme to defraud" the state's Housing Stabilization Services program.
"The people of Minnesota deserve to know where their money is going and why so little has been done to stop this theft," said state Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove.
In Wednesday's news conference, Walz also highlighted a new WalletHub report that ranks Minnesota as the third-best state in the nation for health care.Maria Lisignoli,
Esme Murphy and
WCCO Staff
contributed to this report.