Family medical accounts are one option being examined by a special state Senate committee looking for ways to control health care costs in Minnesota. Representative Glenn Gruenhagen told colleagues more government micromanagement will not control costs. The Glencoe Republican says, “We have a system that incentivizes medical professionals — and I’m not saying they’re all doing this — to do excessive charges on the private side, to therefore make up the money that they’re losing on the government side.”
Gruenhagen argues Medicaid reform is crucial to controlling health care costs. He says Medicaid recipients — except for the disabled and those in nursing homes — should have family medical accounts, which would encourage them to choose health care more wisely and thereby save money for themselves.