Human services budget seemed hijacked

Reviewing what the Legislature passed as a health and human services budget and Gov. Mark Dayton's veto of the plan, I get the feeling some good Republican ideas were sort of hijacked by over-reaching policy provisions that supported a national political campaign against the Affordable Health Care Act.

Whenever I've seen or heard Republican Chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee Jim Abeler, I've been impressed with his thoughtfulness. I've been convinced he sincerely wants to help people who can't afford health care to get treated and keep the costs reasonable to taxpayers.

That's why I was surprised to see things in the bill like the repeal of Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order on the early opt-in on Medicaid, something that would save the state millions and allow Minnesota to lead in health care cost reform.

It was disappointing to see provisions in the bill that Dayton described as "divisive policy provisions" that included prohibitions on stem cell research and provisions to somehow prevent the state from participating in the federal health care law.

Clearly, these were provisions that Dayton told legislators would draw a veto. They were in there anyway.

Abeler actually had some pretty good ideas in terms of controlling costs of state provided health care for the poor.

The experiment last year with GAMC patients that provided block grants to participating hospitals who worked with all providers as a team and improved outcomes at lower costs showed some success.

It's downfall was that outstate hospitals didn't participate because they said they couldn't afford a 50 percent reduction in their reimbursements.

That's the kind of reform that could have advanced the ball forward on this huge part of the state budget. But for some reason, all these controversial, divisive policy provisions got in there and scuttled the bill.

Obviously, a final bill needs to be reworked. Let's hope the political forces of the Republican Party let a smart guy like Abeler do his work.