Pawlenty sliced Minnesota's medical care for the poor, and now time's running out

[MINNPOST, October 15, 2009] Three days before the 2009 Minnesota legislative session ended, Gov. Tim Pawlenty used his line-item veto to strike $381 million in second-year funding for General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), stunning Republicans and Democrats alike. Then the Republican governor unallotted another $15 million, in effect speeding up the demise of the program on March 1—unless legislators can come up with a veto-proof and unallotment-proof compromise to restore some form of GAMC. Another BIG question hanging over the future of GAMC is the passage of federal health-care reform legislation. Allina President and CEO Ken Paulus was interviewed for this story.