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Majority Leader Murphy talks rural health care, emergency services

The lit sign outside the Essentia Health-Fosston hospital contrasts with pink clouds on Jan. 30, 2024, in Fosston.
Chelsey Perkins
/
KAXE
The lit sign outside the Essentia Health-Fosston hospital contrasts with pink clouds on Jan. 30, 2024, in Fosston.

Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, explains priorities for the DFL during the legislative session, including bills relating to hospitals and ambulances in rural Minnesota.

The Minnesota Legislature is currently in session, and there are many issues being addressed, including issues of importance to rural people.

State Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, is the new majority leader who joined us on the KAXE Morning Show. The conversation revolved around rural health care, including hospital unit closures and loss of services, ambulance services and medical debt.

“We are advancing legislation,” Murphy said, “that would require hospitals to give six months public notice in order for a community like Fosston to be able to respond.”

"If money is an issue, let’s figure that part out. But leaving a part of the state without labor and delivery services is a risk for people and we, the Legislature, believe we should be addressing that."
Majority Leader Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St Paul

The KAXE Newsroom has been reporting on the loss of labor and delivery at the Fosston hospital. You can read more about the community meetings here.

Murphy said she’s grateful to learn that communities like Fosston are pushing back. “If money is an issue, let’s figure that part out. But leaving a part of the state without labor and delivery services is a risk for people and we, the Legislature, believe we should be addressing that.”

Ambulance service is also an issue the Legislature is addressing. Murphy told a story from a constituent in Morris who had a family member needing transfer and the only way was by air ambulance. The out-of-pocket cost was about $18,000, which is unaffordable for most people.

Several area residents gathered in City Hall on Jan. 30 to share passionate testimony on the loss of labor and delivery services at Essentia Health’s Fosston hospital.

“That’s an emergency on top of an emergency,” she explained.

Murphy also said the legislature is addressing medical debt. “From my perspective, healthcare costs are, they’re exceptionally high, often out of a person’s reach and certainly not of their own making.”

Accruing medical debt because of high costs should not lead to denying adequate care, according to Murphy. “All of these bills intended to support and improve the lives of Minnesotans.”

Listen to the full conversation with state Sen. Erin Murphy above.

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Heidi Holtan is Director of Content and Public Affairs. She manages producers/hosts and is the host of the KAXE Morning Show, including a variety of local content like Phenology, What We're Reading, Area Voices, Sports Page and much more, alongside Morning Edition from NPR.