Health

Mother of autistic child fights for equal care, says proposed laws could disadvantage Black and low-income people

By Michelle Lawrence, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Idil Abdull on her way to the legislature (Photo by Michelle Lawrence)

“State legislators want to create two different healthcare policies for kids with autism: one that generously covers the privately insured, and the other that gives minimal coverage to the poor and publicly insured, but both using state funds,” says Idil Abdull of Burnsville and mother of a 10-year-old son with autism.

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Health and human services omnibus bills make good investments using wrong resources

By Christina Wessel, Minnesota Budget Bites

When the House and Senate released their committee targets in March, we were surprised that the health and human services budget division was required to cut $150 million in the House and $153 million in the Senate. After years of reductions to critical services for Minnesota’s most vulnerable, including $1 billion in cuts in the 2011 Legislative Session, we believed this year would offer an opportunity to start making up lost ground investing in our state’s health and well-being.

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Minnesota Budget Bites

Minneapolis aims to bridge language, safety gap in restaurants

By Kelsey Shirriff, The Minnesota Daily

Afro Deli employees prepare the restaurant for lunch Monday, April 29, 2013 in Cedar-Riverside. Afro Deli manager Abdirahman Kahin said the restaurantís staff speaks four different languages. (Photo by Jaak Jensen)

Afro Deli and Coffee on the West Bank is known for its diverse food selection, but customers may not be aware of the extent of the diversity behind the counter.

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House committee amends workers' comp bill

By Susan Hegarty, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Injured workers receiving workers’ compensation have had unlimited job development and placement services to help them return to work after being rehabilitated and cleared for employment. A bill amended by a House committee proposes to put a six-month limit on worker access to covered services.

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Respectfully laying to rest those who died in state institutions

By Susan Hegarty, Session Weekly/Session Daily

When people who lived in state institutions died, they were buried on the grounds and their graves marked with a number.

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Proposed bans on BPA, formaldehyde raise case for federal action

By Susan Hegarty, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Minnesota would add two more chemicals to a list of items kept out of children’s personal care products and food containers.

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Sick leave to help extended family members returns to the Senate

By Susan Hegarty, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Employees wishing to use their compensated sick leave days to take a family member — other than a child — to medical appointments would lawfully be able to do so under a bill passed by the House on Thursday.

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Bill advances for collective bargaining for home care workers, childcare providers

By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review

Legislation is advancing through the Minnesota House and Senate which would extend the right to collective bargaining to thousands of Minnesota workers who work as individual home health care providers and family childcare providers.

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Omnibus health and human services finance bill passes House with several bipartisan amendments

By Susan Hegarty, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Rep. Tom Huntley, chair of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, speaks to the media in the House gallery April 22 to give a preview of the omnibus health and human services finance bill. (Photo by Andrew VonBank)

Health care workers who have experienced reduced pay and benefits in recent years because of state deficits could receive 2-3 percent pay increases.

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Cutting pills in half and waiting for MNsure

By Erin Collins, TC Daily Planet

Photo by Würfel, Wikimedia Commons.

 

For Leslie (who preferred we just use her first name), managing health care costs has included cutting pills in half, skipping doses of her medications, hoarding free samples from a neurologist, an

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