SAINT PAUL – Physicians across Minnesota today celebrated the passage of a compromise in the Legislature to provide bonus pay to frontline workers. After almost a year of negotiations, the House and Senate agreed to $500 million in bonus checks to frontline workers. The approximately 670,000 frontline workers in Minnesota can expect to receive a $750 bonus check.
“As a physician who saw fellow health care workers and patients alike putting their health and lives on the line to do essential work during the pandemic, I’m grateful to those in the Legislature who championed frontline worker pay to get it passed,” said Dr. Peter Eckman, Minneapolis cardiologist. “Frontline workers put themselves in harm’s way each and every day to take care of the sick and make sure that others were able to put food on the table, get to work, and have child and elderly care. Doctors like me thank Speaker Melissa Hortman and the House DFL for recognizing the sacrifices frontline workers made and fighting so hard to give back to them.”
For months, Senate Republicans had blocked HF 2900, the original legislation which would have provided frontline worker pay, even though they had agreed last session to do so. In March, the Committee to Protect Health Care released targeted ads calling on Republicans in the Minnesota State Senate to keep that promise to ensure frontline worker pay for Minnesotans. Watch the ads here, here, and here.
“Minnesota’s frontline workers risked both their health and their financial security to keep our health care system and economy running,” said Dr. Mary Kemen, retired Chanhassen anesthesiologist. “Many of them don’t have paid sick leave, so if they fell ill with COVID-19 or had to quarantine, they lost paychecks. Others may still be dealing with medical bills from hospitalizations or long-haul symptoms that prevent them from being able to work. Bonus payments are an important step toward compensating these hardworking Minnesotans, and we are grateful to lawmakers for taking this step.”
About the Committee to Health Care
The Committee to Protect Health Care is a national mobilization of doctors, health care professionals, and advocates who are building a pro-patient health care majority in Congress and in states so that we can live in an America where everyone has the health care they need to thrive. To learn more: www.committeetoprotect.org
###
