The state senate approved the health care bill (
SF3099) on Thursday by a vote of 41-22, but legislators on both sides of the aisle have deep concerns about the nature of the bill. Governor Tim Pawlenty has withdrawn his support of the bill in its current form.
DFL Senator Sharon Erickson Ropes said the bill “puts Minnesota health care at risk,” and suggests that many legislators don’t even understand huge sections of the bill. “This is all very confusing,” she said.
Republican Senator David Haan is worried about privacy intrusions in the bill, like body mass index monitoring. "This kind of active intrusion in people's lives goes way beyond what's necessary," he said.
Senator Ray Vanderveer (R – Forest Lake) summed up the bill saying, “We want to encourage people to get health insurance by putting a tax on it and making it cost more.”
The governor said the current bill is unacceptable to him, but added that he thinks the bill is still “fixable.”
The House has yet to take up it’s version of the health care bill (
HF3391) in a floor vote, but it is expected soon.
There are significant differences between the House’s bill and the Senate’s. If the bill is approved in the House, it will go to a conference committee between the two chambers to hammer out differences. Significant changes sometimes occur in conference committees, and completely new elements are not out of the question.