~ Governor Pawlenty statement regarding discussions with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the state’s MinnesotaCare waiver ~

Saint Paul – The following is a statement from Governor Tim Pawlenty regarding discussions with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the state’s MinnesotaCare waiver.

“In our meeting today with Secretary Leavitt, we expressed our goal to maintain federal funding for the 18,000 Minnesotans who would be put at risk by the federal government’s proposal. The meeting was constructive and HHS has agreed to consider our request to maintain this critical federal funding and address numerous other outstanding issues between Minnesota and HHS. The Secretary and I will be speaking again regarding these matters in the coming days.

“We appreciate the support of our congressional delegation and will continue to work with them and federal officials to resolve these issues.”