Caucuses and Session!
Dear Mighty Citizens,
On Tuesday, February 2nd I encourage you to take part in precinct caucuses.
Precinct caucuses bring neighborhoods together and offer all of us the chance to weigh in on the issues important to our community, state and country. Not only are caucuses the first step in choosing our elected officials, they also begin the process of forming party platforms and setting priorities.
To find where your precinct caucus is located you can visit the Minnesota Secretary of State website: www.sos.state.mn.us . The website displays the times and locations of the Democratic, Republican, Independence, Constitution, and Green Party caucuses.
Two days after caucuses, the 2010 legislative session begins. As you have done throughout the interim, please continue to stay active and to contact me with your ideas and input. Your active role in our political process helps me effectively represent our communities at the State Capitol.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It remains a great honor and privilege.
.
Fixing GAMC: We Can Do This.
At the end of this past legislative session, Governor Pawlenty vetoed funding for General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), which provides health care to 70,000 (about 35,000 in any given month) of the poorest and sickest Minnesotans each year. Recipients on GAMC earn less than $7,500 per year and about 80% of those served have serious mental health issues. GAMC funding is set to expire on March 1, 2010.
Since session adjourned, we have been working on a solution that will preserve basic health care for the most vulnerable Minnesotans. In July, Health Policy committee members visited nine safety net hospitals all over the state to hear about the need to continue providing basic health care benefits to this medically needy population. Since August, we have held meetings with hospitals, health plans, providers, unions, counties, representatives of the faith community, safety net organizations, grass roots organizations, mental health advocates, and many others to discuss policy and financing alternatives for GAMC.
After a lot of listening, we are moving forward with our proposal to temporarily restore GAMC for 16 months in order to build a bridge to national health care reform. Temporary GAMC will offer access to basic care for those currently enrolled, protect vital health care jobs, and restore the solvency of the Health Care Access Fund through 2012. Funded entirely without new taxes, the solution relies largely on cost saving reforms, maximizing existing state and federal health care funding streams, and reduced provider reimbursement rates to pay for a pared down GAMC.
You can view our proposal online: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committee.asp?comm=86118.
This plan is not perfect, and there are issues we need to continue working on, but inaction is not an option. In the coming weeks before session, we will continue to work collaboratively with health care stakeholders as well as with the Governor and Republicans on a bipartisan solution that is in the best interest of all Minnesotans.
This morning, Lori Sturdavent writes about the session ahead and its challenges. Read it here http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/79092092.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UthPacyPE7iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Next step in this process will come on Monday, December 14th when we hold a public hearing to discuss various GAMC proposals. As always, I look forward to your input and perspective.
.
General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC)
Casey Selix of MinnPost wrote this story which digs into the complexity of GAMC and efforts to rebuild health coverage for 35,000 sick and poor Minnesotans.
Read it here:
http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/10/15/12504/pawlenty_sliced_minnesotas_medical_care_for_the_poor_and_now_times_running_out
.
Early Childhoood Opportunity
Legislative Leadership Institute on Child Development Research and Policy
Dear Mighty Citizens,
I wanted to share with you some information about a legislative conference I will be attending later this month. From Monday, November 9 through Wednesday, November 11 I will be attending the Legislative Leadership Institute on Child Development Research and Policy, sponsored by the Council of State Governments Midwestern Office and The Minnesota Community Foundation.
The Institute is designed to build knowledge and understanding of the science of brain development, and how the experiences of children ages birth to three affect development, health and social outcomes across the life span.
It’s an honor to be nominated by my colleagues to attend the Institute and I am eager to learn more from these nationally known researchers about how early experiences build the brain’s architecture and develop a weak or strong foundation for life.
Here is a list of the primary presenters: Richard Chase, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Wilder Foundation. Dr. Chase will unveil the findings from the Minnesota Community Foundation-commissioned report on the demographics and key indicators of infant and toddler well being in Minnesota; Meggan Gunnar, Ph.D., University of Minnesota Distinguished McKnight Professor in Child Development, international expert on the effect of stress on brain development, and member of the National Scientific Council of the Developing Child, Harvard University; Robert Anda, MD, MS, senior researcher, Center for Disease Control, and Co-Principal Investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE). The ACE is one of the largest scientific research studies of its kind, analyzing the relationships between multiple categories of childhood trauma and health and behavioral outcomes later in life; and J. Ronald Lally, Ed.D., Co-Director of the Center for Child and Family Studies at WestEd, an educational research and development laboratory.o. Dr. Lally directed the Syracuse University Family Development Research Program, a longitudinal study of the impact of early intervention on low income children and families.
I look forward to reporting back to you about the conference and ways we can improve early childhood in Minnesota.
.
.
The Past. The Future.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2009
Below is the text of the letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy referenced in the President’s address to a Joint Session of Congress.
May 12, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.
On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.
You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.
When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.
There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat - that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.
And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.
In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.
So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.
At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.
And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.
With deep respect and abiding affection,
[Ted]
.
Send Off for Health Care
Dear Mighty Citizens,
I want to thank all of you who attended our inspiring and thoughtful
Send Off for Health Care meeting this past Tuesday at Mt. Zion Temple.
For those of you who weren't able to attend, I want to provide you with
some of the information that was discussed.
The purpose of our Send Off for Health Care was to hear about from real
Minnesotans about their challenges with our broken health care system,
to discuss how federal health insurance reform can solve these problems,
and use our productive, fact-based dialogue to together advocate for the
kind of health insurance reform Minnesotans and Americans need.
Several people shared stories about how our broken health care system
isn't working. We heard from a man who is currently uninsured. Both he
and his wife work, but neither of their employers offers health
insurance and it is too expensive for him to purchase. A nurse told
several stories of patients she had worked with weren't able to afford
the preventative care they needed to maintain adequate health. And a man
discussed how the rapid increased cost of health care for his employees
crushed his small business.
A panel of health care experts including, Rep. Tom Huntley, Pastor
Grant Stevenson, Dr. Lynn Blewett, State Heath Access Data Assistance
Center, and Dr. Mick Belzer, Medical Director of HCMC, discussed these
problems and shared their perspective on why federal health insurance
reform must be passed now. Later, we also heard from U.S. Rep. Betty
McCollum and Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman about the need for health
insurance reform.
The panel answered questions about health care reform that had been
filled out by those attending. There were so many good questions, that
we were unable to get to all of them. However, I will put out another
update soon that answers the questions that we were unable to get to at
the meeting.
Our productive meeting ended with a call to action. Everyone in
attendance was asked to send off a postcard to our congressional
delegation that showed their support for federal health insurance
reform. The post card read:
Dear Senator Klobuchar, Senator Franken, and Congresswoman McCollum,
Our nation is in crisis. Our health care system is broken. More than 47
million of our
fellow citizens don’t have health insurance; those who are fortunate
enough to have insurance are denied coverage for treatments because of
preexisting condition exclusions and other bureaucratic hurdles. The
cost of health coverage continues to grow at an unsustainable rate,
putting individuals, families, and small businesses in peril. The time
to act is now, and I am counting on you! Together I believe we can meet
this challenge. Please do all you can to ensure all Americans have
access to quality, affordable health care.
Sincerely,
____________
Thank you all so much for staying engaged in these important times for
our state and country. As always, call, e-mail, or write me with your
questions, concerns and input and I will get back to you.
Keep Fighting!
Rep. Erin Murphy
.
