Medicare enrollees see changes in program Open enrollment begins Monday for the 735,000 Minnesotans on Medicare, the nation's health insurance program for Americans 65 and older. There are a couple of important changes to the program that they'll have to take into account this year.November 15, 2010
Doctors brace for possible big Medicare pay cuts Breast cancer surgeon Kathryn Wagner has
posted a warning in her waiting room about a different sort of risk
to patients' health: She'll stop taking new Medicare cases if
Congress allows looming cuts in doctors' pay to go through.November 12, 2010
GOP, with some Dems, targets long-term care provision They want it repealed or at least changed -- and they've singled out a tiny provision which addresses a very big issue: how we will pay for our care when we get old.November 5, 2010
Republicans sweep into power in Minn. House, Senate For the first time in nearly 40 years, Republicans will control both chambers of the Minnesota legislature.
GOP candidates won dozens of legislative seats in Tuesday's election. Thirty-four incumbents were defeated, all Democrats.November 3, 2010
Local aid brings local government into race for governor What a city spends on its police force or its parks doesn't usually get any attention in the Minnesota governor's race, but because the state's budget problems loom so centrally this year, local spending issues have been pulled in as well.October 29, 2010
Despite agreement on gas tax, gov. candidates have varied plans for transportation The candidates for Minnesota governor appear to agree on major transportation issues: They all oppose a gas tax increase, they favor more borrowing and they support bus transit. But dig a little deeper and the three diverge on the details of all those issues.October 29, 2010
Little detail on gov. candidates' plans for health spending In the next two-year budget cycle, the Department of Human Services's spending is projected to climb to from $9 billion to $12 billion. Its budget, which covers health care, nursing homes and other safety-net programs, will eat up more than a third of the state's budget.October 27, 2010
Some DFLers distance themselves from Dayton's tax plan Some DFL legislative candidates have distanced themselves from their own party's candidate, former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, and his "tax the rich" approach to balancing the budget.October 18, 2010
Incinerator could be latest service cut in Red Wing What seemed like a good idea in the early 1980s -- build a municipal facility that would pull recyclable material from the garbage residents generate and then burn the rest to create usable steam -- has become a target in this budget-strapped city.October 12, 2010
Horner's tax plan typical in most of U.S. If Independence Party candidate Tom Horner becomes Minnesota's next governor and is able to convince the state Legislature his sales tax plan is the way to go, you could end up paying tax on many things that have never before been taxed in Minnesota.October 8, 2010
Health orgs defy Pawlenty, send reform report to D.C. Three Minnesota health care organizations defied Gov. Tim Pawlenty on an issue related to health care reform by releasing a report to the federal government.October 7, 2010
Minn. House speaker won't seek parks job Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson
Kelliher has withdrawn from the pool of finalists to head the parks system in Minneapolis.October 5, 2010