Leaders of Minnesota's hospital, nurse, and doctors' associations have added their voices to a healthcare debate between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislators, urging the state to cover its poorest residents with the state-federal Medicaid health program rather than a slimmed-down state plan negotiated last month. With a week to go before the legislature is to adjourn, the groups urged enactment of a bill supported by DFL leaders and opposed by Pawlenty that would shift about 37,000 patients from General Assistance Medical Care to Medicaid, called Medical Assistance in Minnesota.
