Healthcare choices in Minnesota: Cut a lot or cut a lot more

The Minnesota Senate and House approved multi-billion-dollar health and human service bills, as DFLers continued their march toward a showdown with Gov. Tim Pawlenty over a major area of the state budget. The two bills, which have some notable differences, include what DFL leaders said are painful but necessary reductions in light of the state's $4.6 billion budget deficit. But the reductions fall short of what the governor said is necessary to slow down rising costs. The House and Senate DFL majorities both tried to convince Minnesotans that Pawlenty is going too far in pushing people off state-subsidized healthcare and in cutting funds for hospital and nursing home facilities.