September 10, 2010: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty issued an executive order on August 31, 2010, declaring that all state agencies and executive branch departments must obtain approval from his office before applying for grant funds made available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), unless otherwise required by law.
SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett spoke on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show with Kerri Miller on September 7th, discussing the likely implications of Governor Pawlenty’s executive order on Minnesota’s ACA implementation efforts. Given the breadth of national health reform and the fact that states are running large budget deficits, Dr. Blewett was not optimistic about Minnesota’s implementation efforts in the absence of federal grant money.
“This is a huge change in the infrastructure of our health care system. We can’t really do too much without additional support from the federal government,” Dr. Blewett observed. She offered the establishment of an insurance exchange as one example of the implementation challenges ahead: “The way that health reform is being implemented is through a restructuring of how we purchase insurance, through this exchange market. [The exchange] is going to be a web portal. We want it to be up-to-date and fast and efficient, and that’s going to cost money.”
Click here to listen to the September 7th Midmorning podcast.
View the Governor's executive order ("Executive Order 10-12").