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MN Legislature: Healthcare Needs Permanent Solutions, Not More Band-Aids

By Aleta Borrud
May 10, 2021

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The Land Stewardship Project believes that in order for our communities to thrive, everyone, regardless of background or zip code, must have access to the healthcare they need. Yet lack of healthcare access and high costs continue to be major financial stresses for all Minnesotans — particularly for rural residents. More people in rural areas lack employer-based insurance or are uninsured than in urban areas. And even with insurance, about half of people are on high deductible insurance plans with such extreme up-front costs to accessing care that people are forgoing or delaying the care they need.

In Minnesota, most legislative efforts in recent years have focused on keeping premium costs down to make purchasing health insurance more affordable. But this has been offset by significant shifting of the cost of care to people in the form of co-pays and co-insurance, in addition to up-front deductibles. Few people, especially after the economic drain of the pandemic, have the resources to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket if faced with an emergency hospitalization. As a result, many rural hospitals are operating at a loss, with threat of permanent closure. In addition, other essential components of healthcare in rural Minnesota face shortfalls, such as lack of in-home care workers, nursing home beds, obstetric and mental health services, and volunteer staffing for ambulances.

Our fractured payment system for healthcare fails to guarantee equitable access for all Minnesotans. The billing complexity frustrates medical providers and wastes precious healthcare dollars. Medical providers spend hours obtaining authorization for necessary care for patients, while up to a third of the costs of hospitalization are spent on billing and coding. We must demand better for all our communities if they are to be places where people want to invest their lives.

When access to care is limited by availability, either due to distance or restrictive provider networks, people can’t “shop for care.” It’s time to discard the worn-out call for marketplace solutions as a means of controlling costs. When companies can profit from healthcare, controlling costs means reducing care, such as by closing rural clinics or standing between doctors and the care they want to prescribe for patients. We need to use our collective power, as Minnesota residents, to demand investment in healthcare. We need a publicly funded and publicly administered system of care that takes profit out of the equation and guarantees access to care wherever people live. This is a critical part of the reinvestment needed to rebuild the strength of our rural communities.

We are far from creating the healthcare system we need, but during the 2021 session of the Minnesota Legislature, important efforts were made to lay the groundwork for key changes. The House passed these steps during the regular session:

• Require our state government to report on alternate methods of delivering care and reimbursing medical providers in Minnesota’s public medical insurance programs. This could provide information on possible cost efficiencies of public administration of public health insurance programs.

• Require our state government to develop and report a proposal for a public health insurance option program by December 15, 2021.

• Establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to control the runaway costs of pharmaceuticals.

• Establish public hearings to review impact on communities before healthcare entities close facilities or reduce services.

In contrast, the Minnesota Senate continues to support “reinsurance,” a program that uses taxpayer dollars to insure insurance companies against losses, while people still go into debt paying for healthcare. LSP argued against using healthcare dollars in this way, as this program does nothing to control significant out-of-pocket costs for people needing to buy insurance on their own in the marketplace. But most importantly, we opposed this because it continues an insurance system that is not making care more affordable and accessible, especially for rural communities, farmers, and our Main Street businesses.

The fundamental change we need in the healthcare system in Minnesota will not happen this year, despite our shared concern. We need to come together in our communities and ask legislators to deliver meaningful solutions instead of replacing Band-Aids.

Join LSP’s Healthcare Hotlist to keep updated on ways you can participate in creating a truly healthy healthcare system in Minnesota.

Aleta Borrud, a retired physician from Rochester, Minn., recently worked as an LSP healthcare organizer.

Category: Blog
Tags: affordable healthcare for all • healthcare • healthcare reform • rural healthcare

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September 2025

Wednesday September 17

9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Grazing for Invasive Species Management in Oak Savannas
Wednesday September 17
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Grazing for Invasive Species Management in Oak Savannas
Myre-Big Island State Park, 19499 780th Ave, Albert Lea, MN 56007, USA

For details on this workshop, click here.

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Extending the Grazing Season with Cover Crops & Native Grasses
Wednesday September 17
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Extending the Grazing Season with Cover Crops & Native Grasses
Bluffton Resort & Bar, 2619 W Ravine Rd, Decorah, IA 52101, USA

This Ducks Unlimited workshop will feature a discussion of how livestock producers can utilize cover crops and native grasses to extend the grazing season. Featured speakers include Adam Janke, who will discuss Iowa State University’s research on CRP grazing, and Brian Dougherty of Understanding AG, who will discuss the economics of grazing cover crops. There will also be a presentation on Ducks Unlimited’s Advancing Markets for Producers Partnership. 
 
For details, see this flier. or call Ducks Unlimited’s Liam Bonk at 612-483-3577. To register, click here.

Thursday September 18

5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Minnesota Women in Conservation: Conservation Land Walk in Dawson
Thursday September 18
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Minnesota Women in Conservation: Conservation Land Walk in Dawson
Dawson, MN

During this Minnesota Women in Conservation event, participants will walk around a “homestead” farm site — exploring areas and goals the landowner hopes to improve in the future, including pollinator habitat, perennial plantings, wind breaks, privacy/noise screens, water quality improvements, well sealing, and compost placements. Participants will hear feedback and recommendations from a conservation professional on potential programs that could assist the landowner in achieving those goals. 
 
This is a FREE event, but you must RSVP here to get the address. For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Saturday September 20

All Day
Farm Aid
Saturday September 20
Farm Aid
Huntington Bank Stadium, 420 23rd Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

 Farm Aid is heading to Minnesota for the first time for its 40th anniversary festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The event will launch a year-long celebration of four decades of impactful advocacy, historic cultural moments and unforgettable music.

Farm Aid 40 — a full day of music, family farmers, HOMEGROWN food and agricultural experiences — will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young (and the Chrome Hearts), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and more artists to be announced.

For details, click here.

Monday September 22

9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Twin Cities Urban Farm Bus Tour
Monday September 22
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Twin Cities Urban Farm Bus Tour
Leatherdale Equine Center, 1801 Dudley Ave, St Paul, MN 55108, USA

Join University of Minnesota Extension, Hennepin County, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service on Monday, Sept. 22, for a bus tour of urban farms. We’ll discuss the challenges of city growing, including compaction, contamination, soil health, water management, and more. And we’ll learn about how growers are using soil health practices to mitigate these challenges. Stops will include: 

  • The St. Thomas research gardens, where researchers have been studying different methods for maintaining fertility in urban garden beds for 8+ years, and learning about how these different approaches impact soil health and water quality
  • Our Roots Community Garden, where gardeners have implemented a variety of soil health practices to remediate a brownfield contaminated site into a lush garden with healthy soil and plants. Gardeners here are also working to establish a micro forest at the site
  • Urban Roots farm at Rivoli Bluff. The team at Urban Roots has worked for years to establish a thriving farm at a former street sweeping site. They’ve tried many different practices to address compaction, replace invasive species with native plants to mitigate erosion, and to grow vegetables for their community. 

This is the first tour in a three part soil health bus tour series. Participants can sign up for just one, two, or all three tours. Register at https://z.umn.edu/vegetablebustours. The cost is $15 (flat fee, covers 1, 2, or 3 tours). There are more details in the attached flyer.

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