HCMC Is Running Out of Time: Minnesota Lawmakers Race to Save Hennepin County Medical Center Before June
Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on the financial crisis threatening Hennepin County Medical Center, where lawmakers have until May 18 to pass a funding deal before the hospital could begin closing, amid mounting operating losses, federal Medicaid cuts and a patient population that disproportionately includes low-income Black and brown residents.
Dr. Walt Galicich had good reasons to feel optimistic.
The neurosurgeon working at one of the state’s five level-one trauma centers had just finished operating on 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who was shot in the head during the Annunciation Church shooting in the summer of 2025.
“She was bilaterally fixed and dilated, which means that her pressure in her brain was very high,” Galicich said. “If you had told me at this juncture, 10 days later, that we’d be standing here with any ray of hope, I would have said it would take a miracle.”
Forchas survived.
In August 2007, the I-35W bridge collapsed, leaving Julie Graves with a broken back and a shattered ankle. Disoriented and in pain, she had one urgent instruction for her ambulance driver, who didn’t have a GPS and wasn’t familiar with the area.
“Take me to HCMC. Only take me to HCMC,” Graves said.
Those two words, and the level of care behind them, are now at the center of a fight over whether Hennepin County Medical Center will survive.
County Commissioners have warned that HCMC could start closing in June if lawmakers fail to reach a funding deal before the legislative session ends on May 18th.
Last month, County Administrator Jodi Wentland told lawmakers HCMC had entered a financial crisis late last year, prompting Hennepin County to step in with stabilization measures. Since January, the county has cut more than 100 jobs, shuttered five programs, and reduced inpatient capacity by 100 beds. Wentland warned that the lower bed count could strain the hospital when summer volumes peak.
The hospital has posted operating losses in seven of the last eight years. In August 2025, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted 6-1 to dissolve HCMC’s independent community board and retake direct oversight amid a financial crisis driven by unpaid medical bills. The hospital has burned through three leaders in roughly a year, and the county has extended a line of credit so HCMC can make its $33 million biweekly payroll without overdrafting.
Two bills are now on the table. In the House, Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL-Minneapolis) and Rep. Danny Nadeau (R-Rogers) are pushing HF4841, which would raise the ballpark sales tax from 0.15% to 0.75%, generating roughly $250 million annually for HCMC and North Memorial. The bill is still in committee.
“One-time funding could help address immediate cash-flow pressures for a hospital system that operates with significantly fewer days cash on hand than other metro and safety-net hospitals,” Hennepin County’s Joshua Yetman told MSR. “However, Hennepin Healthcare’s challenges are structural and growing over time.”
Reps. Agbaje and Katie Jones (DFL-St. Louis Park) remain optimistic that a funding bill will pass within two weeks.
“I do think that we will be doing something… when we unveil what that is, it will probably be at the 11th hour, once everyone can get everything in a row and on a spreadsheet,” Agbaje said.
“I’m encouraged that we have a bipartisan commitment to get this done,” said Jones. “Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth has also publicly stated that she’s willing to help. We need a sustainable solution.”
The Senate has passed its own two-prong approach. Senate HHS Committee Chair Melissa Wiklund (DFL-Bloomington) is pushing a $150 million funding bill (SF4612) covering two years. Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) proposed raising the ballpark tax to 0.25%, estimated to generate $84 million a year in SF4985. Both Senate bills passed along party-line votes.
“I think the biggest thing that has been a little bit hard for people to deal with is the size of the tax that has been asked for by Hennepin County,” said Agbaje.
Rep. Mike Freiberg said it was unfair for Hennepin County taxpayers to shoulder the full cost of safety-net services that treat patients from across the state.
“I don’t know that it’s fair to ask Hennepin County taxpayers to bear the full cost,” Freiberg said. “Funding for these safety nets is a critical need.”
Agbaje warned that an abrupt closure would send shockwaves through Minnesota’s hospital system. “It would be catastrophic. HCMC is essentially a pillar of our hospital system,” she said. “If that were to go down, many other hospitals would soon be facing serious constraints.”
The financial pressure extends well beyond the current legislative session. HCMC racked up $104 million in unpaid medical care in 2024, up from $40 million in 2020. The hospital now projects losing $1.7 billion over the next decade, a figure driven in large part by the $900 billion in Medicaid cuts signed by President Donald Trump, which will hit hardest at hospitals like HCMC that serve a disproportionately low-income patient population.
The consumer nonprofit Public Citizen analyzed hospitals nationwide with high shares of low-income patients and negative profit margins, finding 446 at heightened risk of closing, cutting services, or laying off workers due to federal Medicaid cuts. Seven Minnesota hospitals made the list, including HCMC. Public Citizen found that communities served by those at-risk hospitals have larger shares of Black and Hispanic residents.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.