Saint Paul – In a letter to Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Cal Ludeman, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced today that Minnesota will not participate in the early Medicaid enrollment contained in the new federal health care law. The Governor’s decision was required by a new state law enacted last month.

Under the federal health care law, all states will expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults without children in 2014. Several states, including Minnesota, were given the ability to enroll in this program early.

Governor Pawlenty said Minnesota will not participate in the early enrollment because of significant General Fund costs totaling $430 million over the next three years and uncertainty surrounding the federal government’s ability to fulfill the massive spending obligations in the program going forward.

“Signing Minnesota up early for this entitlement program would strain the state budget and put us at significant risk,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Rather than simply expanding these rapidly growing and unsustainable programs, we should reform health care to pay for quality, rather than volume of procedures, and look for ways to provide additional access through the private market.”

In the letter, Governor Pawlenty writes that the inability of Congress to pass enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) funding for states should serve as a warning about the federal government’s ability to continue spending hundreds of billions in funds without any way to pay for them.

“Our state budget is balanced, but next year there will be some tough choices to match expenditures and revenues for the next budget period,” Governor Pawlenty said. “The last thing we do should right now is add another $430 million in costs to the bottom line and enmesh the state in an expensive federal health care program that does nothing to control costs or impose reform. Instead, Minnesota should build on the real reform reflected in the bipartisan overhaul of General Assistance Medical Care adopted this legislative session.”