A Hennepin County Commissioner is asking Minnesota state lawmakers to repurpose a baseball stadium sales tax to help financially challenged safety-net hospital Hennepin County Medical Center keep its doors open, MPR News reported Feb. 25.
Minneapolis-based HCMC has cut five medical programs, about 100 full-time positions and reduced its number of patient beds by 100 to address a projected $50 million shortfall by the end of March, according to the report.
Hennepin Healthcare is projected to see a $100 million loss in compensated care and a $1.7 billion reduction in Medicaid revenue over the next decade, according to the report. Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffery Lunde said the county “cannot afford to absorb those costs, nor can we increase our property tax levy enough to even cover those costs without revenue to replace the ongoing losses.”
Mr. Lunde, who also is chair of Hennepin Healthcare’s hospital board, said the county needs legislative approval to repurpose an existing sale that is currently used to pay off the bonds for Target Field’s construction debt. The debt is expected to be settled by 2027.
“If we do not get approval for the tax, HCMC will be closing. There isn’t a question,” he said, according to MPR News.
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