Lake County is Unhealthy?

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:38:55 +0000

A study released today says Lake County, with a population of about 10,600, is the unhealthiest county in Minnesota. Link to full article in Duluth News Tribune

I appreciate that Paul Bergman picked up on the fact that Lake County ranks 16th in Health Factors. Dennis Henkel made some good observations about the data as well.

This study, like many, is good for a few headlines, but on closer inspection there is much to cause a person to reconsider the rather sensational headlines they generate.

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Trip to St. Paul

admin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:50:10 +0000

Last week I had the opportunity to visit our state capitol. It was a good experience. I had a chance to visit with our state senator and representative. I learned a little more about our state budget woes. The legislators from both parties all agree that “fixing” the budget will not happen without some pain. One of the things our governor wants to do, is to pick up nearly a billion dollars through the sale of a bond. The legislator lingo for this one is “tobacco bond” because it involves the money we receive from the big tobacco settlement. Gov. Pawlenty want to sell this bond, and then pay the bond-holder half of our tobacco settlement money for the next 20 years. Yep – 20 years. It sounds like such a bad idea to me. Pay out 1/2 of that money for 20 years for some one-time budget help. The money doesn’t fix the entire shortfall either. I don’t have any great solutions, but I don’t care much for this one.

The governor would also like to move the Health Care Access Fund into the general fund. The money in the HCAF comes from a 2% tax on medical providers and a 1% tax on medical insurance plans. The fund was created to help provide health care for the uninsured, not to fluff up the general fund. This change would affect access to health care for the uninsured. If HCAF is shifted to the general fund, this starts to look like a tax that targets only one group of professionals and services (providers and insurers) for an additional “contribution” to the general fund. If this happens will they also be taxing other professionals such as lawyers, accountants, architects, etc., for contributions to the general fund? I just don’t know how we get out of this mess without doing something with our taxes. Maybe it’s a return to the surcharge on income taxes that was done several years ago, or some sort of recalculation of the tax formulas. Sadly, this all costs money. Darn it.

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Two Harbors, Minnesota » healthcare

Lake County is Unhealthy?

Trip to St. Paul