Next time you're stuck in a snowbank, think about GAMC

By Atom Robinson

During the last big snowfall, as three perfect strangers pushed my car out of a snowbank, I realized something important about Minnesotans and General Assistance Medical Care.

Minnesotans jump in and help one another in times of crisis. At our weakest and most vulnerable moments, we step forward to protect one another.

This winter I skidded into a snowbank along University Avenue in St. Paul. I was stuck in the middle of an intersection, and traffic was barreling up behind me. As I spun my tires and sent up plumes of white exhaust from my tailpipe, three men appeared from nowhere to push me back into the lane and safely on my way.

In order to balance the state's budget last year, Gov. Tim Pawlenty line-item vetoed, then unallotted, funding for the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program. GAMC is a state-funded health program for the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick. GAMC enrollees make less than $8,000 per year and have less than $1,000 in assets. Many live on only $203 a month from General Assistance. Because poverty and poor health are often intertwined, GAMC enrollees disproportionately suffer from heart disease, diabetes, mental illness and chemical dependency. Many cannot find housing, and live in shelters or outdoors. Because of their difficult lives, they are often very sick. They are always very poor, and they will lose access to desperately needed health care on April 1 unless members of the Minnesota Legislature act.

Last week, the Minnesota House of Representatives -- coming to the aid of people in need, like the guys who rescued my stuck car -- overwhelmingly voted to support a new, redesigned GAMC program. By a bipartisan vote of 125 to 9, House members voted to protect poor and sick Minnesotans. The governor vetoed this newly reformed program later that same day.

To continue protecting those vulnerable Minnesotans, members of the House now must override the governor's veto. Despite what you might have heard, GAMC is not a partisan political issue. It was supported by DFLers and Republicans. GAMC provides a push for people toward better health and housing stability.

It helps individuals, but it helps communities, too. By providing a safety net of medical care for those who need it most and can afford it the least, GAMC helps people manage mental illness and chemical dependency, and cuts down on uncompensated care costs for health care providers, which otherwise would be passed along to consumers. By funding GAMC, we're not only pushing individuals out of snowdrifts, we're helping all of the commuters who would be lined up behind them.

Here's the thing about being pushed out of a snow bank on a busy street: You often can't stop to say, "thank you." I honked my horn and waved through an open window and watched my saviors disappear in my rearview mirror. At a rally in front of the governor's mansion this weekend, a GAMC enrollee said, "I won't be on GAMC forever." She's struggling to get her life in order after addiction, mental illness, poverty and poor health overwhelmed her. With a little push from the services funded by GAMC, she'll continue on a road toward health and well being.

It's how we, as Minnesotans, take care of each other.

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Atom Robinson, St. Paul, is a community organizer.

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