State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon is at it again.  Her hyperbole is on display in her recent press release titled "Health Care for Thousands Disappears".  The state senator from Duluth laments the "Governor’s unprecedented abuse of his unallotment authority to balance the state deficit" leading to "thousands of Minnesotans (who) will now lose their health care coverage."  As noted in prior posts, no one is denied health care in Minnesota or anywhere else for that matter.  The back and forth switching of terms between health care and health insurance is deceptive and only intended to alarm people into thinking that fellow citizens are not getting health care.  This is just not true.

General Assistance Medical Care is a state-funded program that provides health care for over 30,000 adults without children who are below 75 percent of the federal poverty guideline.  So what happens to those people that are losing their taxpayer funded health insurance?  They fall into another taxpayer funded health insurance plan called MinnesotaCare.  According to Senator. Prettner Solon, "In order to mitigate the devastating effect of losing health insurance through the GAMC program, many people will have to rely on MinnesotaCare. MinnesotaCare was established as a health insurance program for working Minnesotans, and most individuals using the program pay a premium each month." 

So just who does MinnesotaCare cover.  A quick check of their website shows that you get coverage at 200% of the poverty level as an adult with no kids and 275% of the poverty level if you have kids.  So if you are one of the people who the Governor is allegedly abusing through his constitutionally allowed unallotment, you can get coverage for $4 per month if you have no income.  Seems to me the Governor has eliminated a redundant program.