Farm Picnic Highlights Rural Health, Medicaid Cuts

The 44th Annual Farm Picnic, set for Sunday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. in Pierz Park, will feature a keynote address by Dr. Ken Engelhart of Health Care for All Minnesota on potential state-level responses to a recent $1 trillion federal cut to Medicaid.

Engelhart, a retired physician and former section chief with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, will outline his organization’s recommendation to the Minnesota Legislature: pass the Patient Centered Care bill to eliminate HMO contracts in the state’s Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs. The proposal, he said, would return administration to the state and allow direct payments to healthcare providers—cutting administrative overhead by an estimated 10 to 15 percent, or about $1 billion annually.

Click here to read the original article from the Morrison County Record.