Funding for HCMC is considered one of the top issues over the last few weeks of the legislative session.

MINNEAPOLIS — Lawmakers in the Minnesota Senate have approved a measure to help HCMC, whose leaders have said that without help, it could close this summer. 

The bill that passed would provide HCMC $50 million this year and $100 million next year. It’s considered a temporary solution rather than a long-term fix. It passed in the Senate on party lines. The bill needs to pass the tied House, where HCMC funding is still being negotiated. Lawmakers are separately debating a sales tax measure that would provide a source of ongoing funding to HCMC. This is considered one of the top issues over the last few weeks of the legislative session.



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The level one trauma center serves people all across the upper Midwest. It’s mostly funded by Medicare and Medicaid, which are facing severe cuts in the next several years. There are fewer than 20 hospitals like HCMC across the country, but due to the financial crisis, its leaders have warned it could close as soon as this June. 

Senate Health and Human Services Chair Melissa H. Wiklund (DFL – Bloomington) said in a press release that the Senate bill will stabilize HCMC. 

“The bill we passed today was necessary to keep Minnesota’s healthcare systems from collapse, prevent harm, and ensure people can access care and fulfill basic needs.  I wish we could be investing the $700 million dollars this bill spends into expanding care and lowering costs for Minnesotans, but instead we are forced to backfill the cruel cuts that Republicans in Congress have made to Medicaid and SNAP, and the hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative burdens they’re shifting to our state and counties.

When Republicans in Washington cut funding for healthcare and food support, the need of Minnesotans to go to the doctor or feed their families does not disappear. It shifts to our state, our counties, and our taxpayers. While they dismantle our systems, we are acting to prevent collapse and protect Minnesotans.”