Testifiers urge restoration of long COVID grants after DE2 removes base appropriation

Members of the Minnesota House Health Finance and Policy Committee reviewed the health finance omnibus amendment known as the DE2 and heard multiple public testimonies urging restoration of state funding for long COVID programs.

The DE2 as explained by nonpartisan fiscal staff deletes the base appropriation authorized in the 2023 Legislature for long COVID grants and related administrative appropriations (DE2, line 13 81). Advocates and people living with long COVID told the committee that the grants support community organizations that currently provide casework, care navigation, provider education and emergency supports to people with disabling post-viral conditions.

Terry Wilder, chair of MEAction Minnesota, said long COVID can leave people “unable to work, care for family, or live independently” and urged the committee, “Under no circumstances should this funding be eliminated.” Suzanne Wheeler, co-founder and former president of the Minnesota MECFS Alliance and a person living with severe MECFS, described hands-on help her group provides—transportation to medical appointments, assistance with paperwork and in-home care coordination—and said the state funding is critical to sustain that work.

Several other witnesses echoed those concerns. Linda Pozen, a navigator funded through an MDH long COVID grant, read testimony from a physician who said she is now homebound and unable to work because of long COVID and asked legislators to “leave this funding in place.” Ben Subberger, advocacy director with MEAction, warned that cutting funding would not make the problem disappear but would push people with disabling post-viral illness into emergency rooms, shelters and crisis lines.

Committee members and nonpartisan staff discussed the spreadsheet entries that show the DE2’s reductions. Nonpartisan fiscal analyst Joe Harney flagged the DE2 line that eliminates the 2023-authorized long COVID appropriation and noted where that change appears on the budget spreadsheet. Harney and other staff emphasized that the spreadsheet shows change items and tracked costs; the line-level detail indicates the appropriation removal is intentional in the DE2 language.

Advocates said the grants fund 18 community organizations and provider education activities statewide, and that some beneficiaries are too ill to travel to testify in person. The Metropolitan Center for Independent Living and other disability-service groups described how long COVID can qualify as a disability and said the loss of grants would increase uncompensated care and housing and employment instability for affected Minnesotans.

The committee did not take a vote on the DE2 at the hearing. Chairs and staff said the bill would move to Ways and Means and that amendments could be offered later in the process or on the floor. Several members urged leadership to restore or preserve long COVID funding during the remaining budget negotiations.

Ending: The committee moved on after public testimony; no final funding decisions were made in the meeting. Advocates asked lawmakers to keep long COVID grants in the final budget and to consider the sustained community supports the grants enable.