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Biden cabinet member highlights Medicaid enrollment
Biden Administration’s top healthcare official stresses need for those using government health coverage to reapply this year.
MINNEAPOLIS — If you’re using Medicaid health coverage, pay close attention to your mail.
That was the overriding message from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Thursday when he stopped at the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center to highlight a concerted effort to get 92 million Americans reenrolled in the system.
The emergency rules that delayed renewal eligibility reviews during the pandemic have come to an end. Those who rely on Medicaid, also known as Medical Assistance here in Minnesota, must reapply to keep those benefits.
“Please open your mail. Please read closely what it says. Please respond to that phone call, that text, or that email,” Secretary Becerra remarked.
“It could be as simple as responding to that piece of mail with your latest address, with basic personal information that will keep you, your kids, your families insured.”
Before the pandemic, 1.2 million Minnesotans were enrolled in Medicaid, but that number grew to 1.5 million as more people became eligible and remained eligible under the emergency rules. They should be looking for envelopes in the mail containing the words “important information enclosed” inside a blue circle.
“Our motto throughout our campaign for renewals is called ‘When it’s time to renew, look for the blue.’ There’s a big blue circle on the envelope,” Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead told reporters.
She said it’s not clear if all 1.5 million enrollees will seek to renew medical assistance because some have now obtained jobs with health benefits or are making enough money to qualify for Minnesota Care or to buy a subsidized private plan through the MnSURE marketplace.
“Minnesota has some extra challenges. We have underfunded our IT systems over the decades, so we are one of three states that are doing this entire process on paper.”
Harpstead, state lawmakers, county commissioners, and health providers took part in a roundtable event with Becerra before they addressed reporters. Rep. Mohamud Noor of Minneapolis said there’s a coordinated effort to make sure people don’t fall through the cracks during the reapplication process.
“This is all hands on deck to make sure we provide coverage to Minnesotans, especially the youngest ones and the most vulnerable members in our society,” Rep. Noor said.
Most Medicaid recipients enroll through their local county social service offices, which handle the full spectrum of public benefits for lower-income families. Hennepin County Commission Chair Irene Fernando said that counties are working together to process the wave of new applications.
“Minnesotans can rest assured their entire, all of their governments are working on their behalf to ensure they are covered, regardless of where they live. We want them to survive and thrive.”
NorthPoint Health and Wellness is already assisting 10 guests with renewal applications each day and is expecting thousands of others to ask for help in the coming year as their current coverage expires.
Dr. Kevin Gilliam, the medical director at NorthPoint, said the pandemic may be fading but the clinic is busier than ever as patients look to catch up on the things they put off during that global health crisis.
“Those things that were on the back burner that are now boiling over need to be brought to the front, and are more apparent,” Dr. Gilliam explained.
“Those chronic health conditions people deal with that have gone without much attention, so diabetes, the hypertension, the heart failure, those things are less well controlled.”
That’s why it’s essential for those qualified for medical assistance to keep that coverage going.
“At NorthPoint, we will see people no matter your ability to pay, but we don’t people to incur other expenses and other stressors that lead to worse health outcomes.”
Dr. Rahshana Price-Isuk, NorthPoint’s clinical services director, said the re-enrollment rush will give physicians another chance to engage with patients.
“I love to educate people on the why, why do you need to you need to fill out this paper, why should you respond,” Dr. Price-Isuk told KARE.
“When that coverage lapses you might show up at your pharmacy and all of sudden you’re handed a large bill for your medications, and you hand that back because it’s like, ‘I can’t afford that.’ Then diabetes is uncontrolled, blood pressure is uncontrolled. People need that resource.”
Synchronize your watches! The award-winning best new musical sets its destination to the Orpheum.
MINNEAPOLIS — You don’t need to build a flux capacitator to travel back in time and relive an ’80s phenomenon.
“Back to the Future the Musical,” which won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, is coming to the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of fall.
The London’s West End and Broadway show is based on the 1985 blockbuster film that spawned two sequels: “Back to the Future Part II” in 1989 and “Back to the Future Part III” in 1990. All three films combined grossed nearly a billion dollars.
The award-winning musical stars Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, Don Stephenson as Doc Brown and Ethan Rogers as Biff Tannen.
“Back to the Future the Musical” officially premiered at the Manchester Opera House on March 11, 2020. It then had a huge run at London’s West End beginning in 2021 and hit Broadway in August of 2023.
The musical is directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando with original music by multi-Grammy-winners Alan Silvestri (“Avengers: Endgame”) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), alongside songs from the movie including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Back in Time.”
“Back to the Future the Musical” will play at the Orpheum from Tuesday, Sept. 10 to Sunday, Sept. 22.
Tickets, which start at $50, will go on sale at HennepinTheatreTrust.org on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 10 a.m.
The production contains flashing lights, strobe effects, pyrotechnics and is recommended for ages 6 and up.
Its run time is 2 hours and 35 minutes and includes one intermission.
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Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024.
ANOKA COUNTY, Minn. — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to help find a missing Anoka County woman who they believe is without critical medication.
Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024. Police said her family hasn’t heard from her since she was last seen.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released a statement Wednesday, saying Dougall was known to frequent the Franklin Avenue North area of Minneapolis as well as places throughout Anoka County and across the Twin Cities metro. Investigators said she may have been in the area of Burnett County, Wisconsin last September, before being dropped off at the Norwoood Inn in Roseville.
MISSING: Investigators believe Marina Dougall may have been in the in the Burnett County, Wisconsin, area Sept. 20-22, 2023, and then dropped off at the Norwood Inn in Roseville. Anyone with information on Marina Dougall’s whereabouts is urged to call 911. pic.twitter.com/HhfAeFGiJZ
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) September 11, 2024
The BCA said Dougall has a medical condition that requires medication, and that she also has a history of mental health and substance abuse issues.
Dougall is described as 5’9 and 140 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She also has a chipped front tooth, flower tattoos on her right hand and left shoulder, a snowflake tattoo on her right abdomen and a large tattoo on her back.
The BCA added Dougall was born in Russia and speaks with a slight accent.
If you’ve seen Dougall or know any information about her whereabouts, you’re urged to call 911 or contact the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office at 763-324-5209.
A judge handed 25-year-old Damarean Bible a 367-month sentence – 30 and 1/2 years – for killing 37-year-old Savannah Williams in November of 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man will serve more than 20 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree intentional murder in the death of a transgender woman in November of 2023.
A Hennepin County district judge sentenced Damarean Kaylon Bible to 367 months – or 30 and 1/2 years – for fatally shooting Savannah Ryan Williams, a woman who was well-known in the Twin Cities trans community. He will serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars.
“This senseless act of violence against a Native and Cuban transgender woman has left a family without a daughter, a partner without their person, and a community without the vibrant light that Savannah uniquely brought to every room she was in,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty following the sentencing. “Savannah deserved safety.”
Moriarty said investigators in her office conducted a thorough review to determine whether the killing was motivated by bias, but concluded they could not prove bias beyond a reasonable doubt. The county attorney did say Williams’ murder is part of a pattern of escalating attacks against trans women, particularly those who are of color. She said since 2013, 286 trans women have been killed, with 85% of those victims being Bipoc women.
Two state legislators who are members of the Queer Caucus vowed to continue work at the State Capitol to protect Minnesota’s transgender community and increase penalties against those who harm them.
“Savannah Ryan Williams was a beloved member of the trans and Two Spirit community, and she should be alive today,” said Minnesota Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-66A). “The data is clear that trans people, especially trans people of color, suffer violence at rates far greater than our cisgender neighbors. The Queer Caucus will continue do everything in our power at the Capitol to solve this crisis, and I thank the County Attorney’s Office for sharing this commitment.”
Minneapolis police were dispatched to the 3000 block of 4th Ave. S. around 9 a.m. Nov. 29, 2023 on reports of someone not breathing. Witnesses told officers they heard a gunshot just before 6 a.m.
Investigators used surveillance video to track the shooting suspect to an apartment building where they arrested Bible.
A criminal complaint says Bible admitted to shooting Williams in the head. He told police she approached him for a sexual encounter but he began to feel “suspicious.” After the act, he shot and killed her, according to court documents. Bible reportedly confessed after police found surveillance video of him at the scene near the Lake Street light rail station.
The complaint said while in jail, Bible told his dad he “just murdered someone.” It reads that he felt sorry for killing the victim and knew he wasn’t God, but he “had to do it.”
He was convicted of second-degree intentional murder on Aug. 27, 2024.
Following her death, friends remembered Williams as a big personality who was “full of life.”
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