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Staff writer

Gov. Tim Pawlenty focused on health care reform and government spending at all levels during a Tuesday morning (Jan. 26) MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce breakfast event in Blaine.

Politicians at all levels of government need to be mindful of spending and not always say yes to be popular, Pawlenty said as he stood before local business owners and public officials in the Tournament Players Club clubhouse.

“Government spending is outrunning any reasonable ability to pay for it,” he said.

The federal government collects $2.2 trillion in revenue. Last year, it spent $3.7 trillion, he said.

Pawlenty said if you add up the national debt and the unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, FICA, Medicare and pensions, the federal government debt is really $65 trillion. It grew $8 trillion last year, he said.

“It’s no longer whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, right or left or center, it’s just math,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said consumers and not the government have to be put in charge of health care. There needs to be information available to the public about price and quality and there should be incentives to those that use the system wisely.

Minnesota has the highest concentration of health savings accounts in the country at 10 percent use, Pawlenty said. State employees were told that they could choose any provider they wanted. If they did not make a wise financial decision, the employee paid for it.

The three big expenditure categories for Minnesota’s budget are K-12 education, higher education and health and human services, according to Pawlenty.

Pawlenty is concerned about future growth of the health and human services budget, he said.

He predicts health and human services within 20 or 30 years could consume over 80 percent of the entire state’s budget, Pawlenty said.

“When the country has said this health care issue is financially killing us that’s exactly right,” he said.

The raging debate is how to fix the health care problem.

According to Pawlenty, the federal government’s plan is to create more access to a broken system that costs too much.

Reforming the health care system and not just having more access is what needs to happen, Pawlenty said.

“You can’t have a system where consumers get to go consume stuff not knowing the price, not knowing quality measures and then sending a bill magically somewhere else like the government or an HMO or an insurance company and then have the bill and the relationship get managed for and paid for by somebody else,” he said.

Pawlenty said people spend money differently when it is their money, so when people can consume something at no cost relative to the additional activity then the system gets out of control.

Health care reform cannot be the government taking everything in, managing it, paying for it and hoping costs will go down because that will not happen, he said.

“Every entitlement program the United States federal government currently runs is on a pathway to bankruptcy,” Pawlenty said. “Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If you give them another one they will run it into the ground financially. I guarantee it.”

Enforcement is an issue for health care, he said.

The Minnesota law is that undocumented workers who are not legally in the country are only eligible for emergency care, but hospitals do not always check on the patient’s citizenship status, according to Pawlenty.

The governor proposed electronic identification cards for immigrants and others in the country on a temporary basis. Information stored on the cards would show who they are, how long they have been in the country and when they are scheduled to leave, Pawlenty said.

Health care costs drive all public spending at school districts, cities, counties, the state and universities and colleges, he said.

Pawlenty said public employee costs are out of line with the private sector, not so much with salaries, but with health care, pensions and benefits.

He referenced a report that shows for the first time in the history of the country the majority of union employees in the country are government employees.

Those unions are some of the most powerful interest groups there are in terms of advocating for more spending, more taxes and more government, Pawlenty said.

Commitment made to current union employees should be honored, but new employees should have benefits more reasonable to public budgets, he said.

One person asked Pawlenty if there is any indication that public employee unions “are starting to get it in their negotiations.”

Pawlenty said he asked public schools to have a wage freeze. Some did a good job, some did so-so and some did awful, he said.

Pawlenty admitted that school districts are in an impossible position during negotiations because a school board and superintendent cannot have a strike because it tears the community apart and is a lethal and toxic situation.

“While we talk big about they should freeze salaries and stand tough, the bottom line is they have very few tools,” Pawlenty said of school districts. “They’re going to cough up the concessions. It’s just a matter of how big and when.”

Minnesota is in the top tier of states to live in based on various ranking of quality of life and amenities, but Pawlenty said people have to realize that in a rapidly changing world, staying the same is not an option.

Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it