Daily Digest: Insulin deal may be close

Good Tuesday morning. Here's your Digest.

1.Insulin deal missing the how-to-pay-for-it detail. Lawmakers working for months on a way to help Minnesotans struggling with runaway insulin prices say they’ve agreed on a plan to get emergency insulin to those who need it. However, there’s no deal yet on how to pay for it, and Capitol leaders haven’t signed off on it. Under the proposal, people who meet financial requirements and have been prescribed insulin could go directly to most pharmacies to receive a short-term, 20-day supply. After that, qualifying patients could receive a “stopgap” insulin supply for up to an additional two months. “Right now, there is no system, it’s a total mess,” said Sen. Matt Little, DFL-Lakeville, who convened private talks with a group of lawmakers from both parties and the House and Senate to reach the deal. “Coupons or rebates won’t save someone in an emergency, and even with discounts the price of insulin is irrationally and unaffordably high.” (MPR News)

2. Rand Paul jumps into Trump-Omar feud. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is offering to buy Rep. Ilhan Omar a ticket to Somalia so she will “appreciate America more,” echoing President Trump’s racist statement that the Minnesota Democrat and three other congresswomen should “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Paul made the remarks in an interview with Breitbart News at last week’s Turning Point USA conference in Washington. Trump’s tweets earlier this month about Omar (D-Minn.) and the three other congresswomen prompted the House to pass a resolution condemning his remarks. Three of the congresswomen were born in the United States; Omar is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Somalia. As debate over Trump’s comments swirled, Paul defended him, saying of Omar, “I’m sort of dumbfounded how unappreciative she is of our country.” Paul went further in the interview with Breitbart. “While I’m not saying we forcibly send her anywhere, I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia, and I think she could look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia — that has no capitalism, has no God-given rights guaranteed in a constitution, and has about seven different tribes that have been fighting each other for the last 40 years,” Paul said. “And then, maybe after she’s visited Somalia for a while, she might come back and appreciate America more.” (Washington Post)

3. WIll getting laws passed help Klobuchar's campaign? In an increasingly polarized Congress, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has figured out ways to get laws passed. Since President Donald Trump took office, the candidate from Minnesota has been either the chief sponsor or the lead Democrat on 34 bills that he signed into law. "OK, that's a first up here," Klobuchar said in the first presidential debate last month, contrasting her rate of success with that of her rivals. "I get things done." The Minnesota Democrat has made her ability to move legislation in Washington a major selling point in her campaign for president, even if few of her legislative achievements have grabbed big headlines on the national stage. None of the Klobuchar legislation passed into law in the Trump era has become fodder in the presidential election, but it provides a good snapshot of where she's focused as a lawmaker. It's a record that has been largely aimed at good government, if largely bereft of controversy. (Star Tribune)

4. Former Medicaid administrator rails about DHS problems. The longtime medical director of Minnesota’s Medicaid program is opening up about problems within the sprawling Department of Human Services, one month after he lost his job.In an open letter to Gov. Tim Walz and state lawmakers Monday, Dr. Jeff Schiff called leaders of the agency’s health care administration “hostile and dismissive” and said they often ignored clinical evidence when making key health care decisions. He called on state leaders to establish a mechanism for ongoing oversight of the agency, which has a nearly $18 billion budget and oversees a range of programs for vulnerable residents. Dr. Jeff Schiff, former medical director forMinnesota’s Medicaid program. (Courtesy photo)“The events of this summer show that legislative inquiries and session hearings are insufficient and must be enhanced by better ongoing oversight for a program with this level of complexity,” Schiff said. (Pioneer Press)