Minnesota’s next Human Services budget will curb nursing home, disability payments

The Minnesota Legislature is nine days late and several dollars short in completing a budget that will fund the state governing body over the next two years But lawmakers and Gov Tim Walz say they have hit upon a deal to fund the Department of Human Services DHS which pays for the physical condition care of nearly a quarter of Minnesotans Assuming that deal holds it s a huge step in getting the budget done because it accounts for over of state spending once federal Medicaid money is included Sen Jim Abeler R-Anoka mentioned in an interview Wednesday that the Human Services budget is done At a press conference Wednesday Walz substantiated the pact We tied up what I consider to be the perhaps the biggest budget bill in human services a real effort to continue to deliver the best services in the country but at a cost containment Walz declared The bill follows the so-called global agreement between Walz and legislative leaders to reduce DHS spending by million over the next two years compared to the Minnesota Management and Budget s February spending forecast The deal takes billion from the state s general fund and spends it on DHS from July to June State lawmakers say it is too intricate to anticipate how much a Republican-controlled Congress may cut Medicaid spending Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman DFL-Brooklyn Park has indicated that a special session of the state Legislature may be needed this fall after Congress passes its own budget bill Here s a rundown of what we know now state budget-wise What is part of this Human Services deal at the Legislature Let me frustrate you with caveats about how little I know followed by excuses for not knowing First the deal was hammered out not in a conference committee between House and Senate leaders that took place in population but rather a working group that met privately save for a single desultory one-hour meeting last Thursday where nonpartisan legislative staffers grinded their teeth through a line-by-line reading of each spending item in the House Senate and governor s proposals Second while Abeler stated the working group co-chairs have signed their names to a budget compromise that compromise is not publicly available Reported co-chairs are Sen John Hoffman DFL-Champlin Rep Mohamud Noor DFL-Minneapolis and Rep Joe Schomacker R-Luverne Though a longtime member of the Human Services committee Abeler is not a co-chair As of late Wednesday afternoon none of them returned requests for comment What do I know So the House passed a bill with hundreds of millions of dollars in spending reductions to long-term care waivers This is a part of Medicaid where patients with a disability receive continual care at their home or a small society setting The Senate meanwhile passed a bill more focused on reducing money received by nursing homes The working group produced a balanced bill where both the nursing homes and disability side are reduced in future spending Abeler announced The bill does this by capping the rate of reimbursement paid to vitality care providers who make a Medicaid claim One such rate is a consumer price index specifically for physiological goods and services Another rate is called CWF which stands for competitive workforce factor and that measures the hourly wage of direct care staff in disability services Per Abeler the working group and Walz arranged a compromise where these progress rates would be capped at annually Compared to the state s current advancement rate plus numerous rate exceptions that providers county governments and tribal nations successfully apply for that would appear to save Minnesota untold millions of dollars though perhaps at the cost of reduced care The precise cuts should be made general when Walz calls a special session Does this agreement include language about MinnesotaCare for undocumented immigrants No Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy DFL-St Paul wants a standalone bill that unwinds state subsidized strength care for low-to-moderate income adults who are undocumented while preserving such subsidies for children Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy DFL-St Paul spoke with reporters on Thursday May as the Legislature continued work on a two-year budget Credit MinnPost photo by Matthew Blake This way DFLers can vote against their leadership without torpedoing a larger budget deal But Speaker Lisa Demuth R-Cold Spring wants the contentious measure as part of a larger spending bill That spending bill called the Vitality and Human Services spending bill funds small components of DHS along with the Department of Vitality and portions of the Department of Children Youth and Families Publicly neither Murphy nor Demuth have budged on their positions of where they want to see the MinnesotaCare for undocumented immigrants agreement When will other spending agreements at the Legislature get reported Who the hell knows At his press conference Walz declared that he was meeting tonight with Hortman Murphy and Demuth and might have an overall budget deal as early as p m tonight Walz also commented that this budget might be the one I m the greater part proud of and the the bulk collaborative during his gubernatorial tenure But there were no specifics and reporters have not been allowed to witness first-hand this super inspiring bipartisan cooperation Plus other working groups continue to meet including one on the setting bill which is set to publicly convene on Thursday Also members of the tuition working group responsible for nearly of the state budget explained Wednesday that sticking points remain in their negotiations A deal not getting done by June holds symbolic value Certain constituents employees would get layoff notices then since their jobs would not be funded beginning July the new fiscal year But that date is not much of a speed bump for the average legislator Abeler stated The real deadline is June The post Minnesota s next Human Services budget will curb nursing home disability payments appeared first 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