Concerning the December 24, 2018, Fillmore County Journal article on page 12, titled “Legislators listen to county priorities,” an error is in need of correction. Jessica Erickson, director of nursing, was expressing the importance of maintaining the state’s health care provider tax. The 2% tax (MinnesotaCare provider tax) is a tax on the gross revenue of health care providers, which supplies 80% of the dollars for the Health Care Access Fund, a revenue source for MinnesotaCare program. The provider tax raises about $600 million per year (not $6 million). The AMC representative, Matthew Hilgart, went on to ask how to plug that hole if the source of revenue goes away. The tax will sunset in 2020 unless legislators act to repeal the sunset provision.
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