Dear Neighbor,
Great to recently host visitors from Big Stone Therapies, in Marshall (above), who came to St. Paul to discuss policies for safe, effective and affordable physical therapy (above). Thanks to this group and other constituents who continue making the effort to come to the Capitol to share their thoughts on whatever issues are important to them.
As for notes from the House this week:
Energy costs
It was interesting to see the above headline in the Star Tribune this week after the governor already has enacted the Blackout Bill Democrats passed making energy in our state unaffordable, unreliable and unsafe.
It may have been more helpful to share that information with the public before the bill became law, but the fact the Star Tribune ran this headline at all says a lot. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when the bill came to the House floor, this is not a common-sense, middle-of-the-road approach when it comes to energy policy. This extreme agenda to force industries, businesses and families into an unreliable, more expensive energy network will cost Minnesota jobs, our economy and Minnesota’s future as an economic engine for our region.
And, as a reminder, a report from the Center of the American Experiment estimates the Walz/Democrat plan to move to 100 percent carbon free electricity by 2040 will cost $313 billion, or nearly $3,900 per family per year. The same study indicates the return on these massive consumer costs would be negligible at best, paying to potentially avert 0.00096 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100.
Ambulance/hospital bill
The House committee on taxes this week conducted a hearing for a bill (H.F. 1487) that would disallow certain hospitals and ambulance services from using the state’s revenue recapture program.
Specifically, it would remove ambulance services and private nonprofit hospitals that lease a building from the county or city in which they are located (safety net hospitals) from eligible “claimant agencies” that can utilize revenue recapture through the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Minnesota hospitals in 2018 provided $788 million of uncompensated care. When patients have the means to pay their hospital bills, they should. This program allows certain hospitals and ambulance services to recapture some of their uncompensated care.
This bill did not receive a roll-call vote and was set aside for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill later this session. I oppose this measure because it would hurt rural outfits that benefit from this tool to receive what they are owed for services they provide.
Watch for more news from the House soon and, until next time, have a good weekend.
Sincerely,
Chris