The following is a statement from Governor Mark Dayton on the U.S. Senate health care bill:
“The bill recently assembled in secret by a handful of Senate Republicans would severely harm many thousands of elderly, sick, and lower-to-middle-income Minnesotans. Like the bill passed by House Republicans, it would make the problems with our existing healthcare system much worse, not any better.
“According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republicans’ Senate bill would eliminate coverage for 22 million Americans. It would cut billions in federal funding, putting at risk the health care of 1.2 million Minnesota seniors, children, and people with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid and MinnesotaCare. And it would drastically increase health care costs for thousands more Minnesotans.
“Even some Republican Senators are now gagging over their Caucus’ shameful ploy to cut federal health care funding, in order to reduce taxes on the very wealthiest Americans. Those Senators, who still support this obscene transfer of federal resources from the most vulnerable Americans to the richest, should be required to explain how their actions would make this a better country. The same accountability should be required of House Republicans, who supported their obscene transfer of federal resources from elderly, sick, and poor Americans to multi-millionaires.
“Congress has a long-overdue responsibility to make quality healthcare more affordable for all Americans. Here in Minnesota, we have committed an additional $870 million this year to try to keep healthcare under the existing federal law affordable for all Minnesotans. But the states cannot bear those costs alone. Congress must act now to make the Affordable Care Act a better, more affordable source of health care. Devastating Medicaid and MinnesotaCare to provide tax breaks to the richest Americans is the wrong answer.”
