Health care is a burning issue for almost everyone. The 441,000 Minnesotans without insurance fail to get adequate access and often turn to the emergency room for care, exacerbating the cost. Those with health insurance see the price of health care skyrocketing through premium increases and other out-of-pocket costs.

Because of the pressing need to deal with this issue, the Legislative Commission on Health Care Access has been meeting since early June in nine working groups. The groups are working on public health, cost containment, insurance market reform, single payer, health care for health-care workers, bridging the health-care continuum and a health-care access timeline.

The Minnesota Legislature will struggle to reach a consensus on the next iteration of health-care reform for the state. It probably will be difficult, if not impossible, to immediately enact any sweeping policy proposals that require multi-year funding. In a non-budget year, with a projected budget shortfall, it is expected that even small, low-cost pilot programs will be difficult to fund.

The Health Care Access Fund (HCAF) is the primary funding source for MinnesotaCare and is used to pay for programs that improve the quality of health-care services, increase access to health coverage for the uninsured and work to contain health-care costs.

During the last several years, hundreds of millions of dollars were taken from HCAF and used to reduce the state General Fund deficit. On several occasions, proposals to cut or eliminate HCAF and the taxes that fund it have been brought forward. The continuation of this fund is important in any effort to continue health-care access for low-income people.