Due to the emergency created for Minnesota’s Medicaid program by the
funding cuts from July’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Dave Garibaldi and Don Pylkkanen (co-chairs of the Legislative Policy Committee), Kip Sullivan, and Ken Engelhart (chair of the Coalition Builders Committee) have recommended that HCA-MN’s priority from now to the 2026 legislative session
be continued expansion of constituent meetings with their senate district
legislators.
The purpose of these meetings is to explain how the cost savings from
deprivatization of Minnesota’s public health insurance programs (Medicaid and MN Care) can alleviate some of the Medicaid cuts and that deprivatization can be accomplished with passage of the Patient Centered Care (PCC) bill. Over the last two months, ten HCA-MN leaders have met with or are planning to meet with 12 senators and several representatives from 12 senate districts. The goal is for many more constituents to meet with their legislators before the 2026 legislative session to advocate for deprivatization of Minnesota’s public health insurance programs through the PCC bill. These meetings need to expand to senate districts beyond the successful meetings that occurred this summer.
On September 5, Dave, Kip, and Ken met to develop a work plan to involve more activists for meeting with their legislators and to plan the overall campaign. Ken drafted a work plan that summarized the September 5 meeting. Members of the Legislative Policy Committee and the Coalition Builders Committee are reviewing the plan. Coalition organizations can assist
in advancing the work plan.
This work plan has been recommended as a priority for the Legislative Policy
Committee, which meets monthly. The Legislative Policy Committee co-chairs
will provide regular progress reports of the work plan every two weeks at the Coalition Builders Committee meetings from now to the 2026 legislative
session. Members of these two committees are invited to attend the work plan
discussion at each other’s meetings for information sharing.
The draft work plan includes education and training for constituents before requesting a meeting with their Senate District legislators concerning the PCC bill. This education will provide these constituent activists with information
about two basic facts: (1) The PCC bill terminates the insurance company contracts with HMOs for Minnesota Medicaid and MN Care. This action is
projected to save about $1 billion annually to partially alleviate the Medicaid cuts. (2) HMOs have increased health insurance costs since their insertion into these public health insurance programs in the 1990s. Kip will join the constituents in their meetings with legislators to explain the evidence-based rationale for deprivatization of our public health insurance programs with the PCC bill.
