Statement on Unanimous Vote In Support of Dedicated Revenue for HCMC
On Tuesday March 24, 2026, the Administration, Libraries, and Budget Committee unanimously voted to support dedicated revenue in the form of a modified Hennepin County sales tax to support the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), also known as Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc. (HHS), as the critical safety net hospital serving Minnesota and the surrounding states.
On June 12, 2025, HCMC management informed both the County and HCMC Boards at a public meeting of HCMC’s closure risk in six months, by December 2025. In order to keep HCMC open, the County Board voted on August 12, 2025 to serve as the interim HCMC Board (while maintaining HCMC as a subsidiary). On November 18, 2025, the County Board approved modifying the sales tax toward HCMC as Hennepin’s top priority for the 2026 Legislative Session.
Background on the local sales tax.
Currently, Hennepin County has a 0.15% sales tax imposed primarily to fund building the publicly-owned ballpark called Target Field, where the Minnesota Twins call home. Additionally, this local sales tax has funded youth sports capital projects for schools and parks, youth activities like music and swim lessons, as well as extended hours across Hennepin’s 40+ libraries.
This tax is on track to conclude earlier than expected due to the County’s financial management of the debt service for Target Field.
Since the 2023 Legislative Session, the County has proposed modifying this local sales tax in order to stabilize Level 1 health care within Hennepin’s geography.
The 2026 proposal would increase the amount of this tax from 0.15% to 1.00%, raising approximately $342 million annually, while providing critical support to HCMC.
Going forward, the expanded 1% would keep the current funding for these entities and activities while also raising additional funds to Level 1 trauma care providers in Hennepin County.
HCMC is vital to the region and must remain open for generations to come.
HCMC is a county-owned safety net hospital and Level 1 trauma center providing critical care to residents from the metro, suburbs, and rural Minnesota plus the surrounding region — with nearly 1/3 of patients coming from outside Hennepin County.
We’re the only public safety-net: While there are several county-owned public hospitals in Minnesota, as well as other safety-net systems in the state — HCMC is the only public safety-net health system in Minnesota. Additionally, we offer specialty and trauma care that is unique for the multi-state region, regardless of patients’ ability to pay.
We provide critical care for patients statewide: In 2025, HCMC provided $104M in uncompensated care, with $24M of that exclusively serving patients from outside Hennepin County. In fact, 40% of patients needing trauma or burn specialty care from 2020 to 2024 were from outside Hennepin County.
We’re the biggest public health system in the upper midwest: HCMC operates the busiest Emergency Department in the state, seeing 100,000 patients per year. HCMC is also the largest Medicaid provider system in Minnesota with 75% of patients receiving care paid for through public programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
We train rural providers and support healthcare throughout Minnesota: HCMC is a teaching hospital responsible for training 31% of Graduate Medical Education trainees and 60% of Undergraduate Medical Education Trainees in Minnesota — 71% of those educated at HCMC stay in Minnesota. HCMC providers also offer advice and guidance to healthcare providers across the state, supporting and enhancing their effectiveness in providing quality care throughout a five-state region.
We have unique programs that are essential: HCMC is home to the only Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program in Minnesota with over 400 patients per day being seen by the addiction medicine clinic, and we are proud to be home to the Minnesota Regional Poison Center.
The problem is urgent and a legislative solution must pass in the 2026 Session.
After receiving the alarming news in June 2025 that HCMC was on track to close by December 2025, the Hennepin County Board reassumed interim governance of HCMC (by vote in August 2025) to ensure this essential hospital stayed open and continued serving our most vulnerable residents in Hennepin County and beyond.
HCMC is not unique in its problems, but we are unique as the last and only public safety net in Minnesota:
Across the country, hospital finances are unsustainable, especially after changes to Federal reimbursement rates enacted in H.R.1, including the elimination of Directed Payments.
HCMC’s role, as the state’s safety-net hospital and as a trauma center make it extremely vulnerable to these changes. In fact, HCMC is projected to have $1.7B in revenue losses over the next ten years due to the changes made in H.R.1.
Further, market realities like the dissolution of UCare (HCMC’s largest payor) at the end of 2025 placed an added further financial stress.
Closing HCMC is not an option because it would end the state’s healthcare ecosystem as we know it:
HCMC is the most vital entity for ensuring the health and well-being of Hennepin residents, Minnesotans, and the broader region.
HCMC is presently open due to financial stability provided by the County Commissioners serving as the interim HCMC Board, while maintaining operating as a subsidiary.
However, the residents of Hennepin cannot property-tax our way to a solution. Instead, we must prevail at establishing a dedicated non-property tax revenue source during the 2026 Legislative Session.
Will you take action today to help save HCMC?
Thank you to the countless people who have already taken steps to stabilize and save HCMC! Every single social media post, conversation, news article, and personal story makes a difference. I am especially grateful to the countless workers who contribute to the health and well-being of all people, and I promise to work hard on your behalf to ensure HCMC is successful for generations to come. The workers at HCMC have organized themselves to advocate for their hospital and we are grateful for their support.
This is not a time to be shy. We must proudly proclaim our unwavering commitment to public healthcare, its essential mission, and the incredible workforce who delivers high-quality care to anyone who arrives at our doors:
Too many people will be harmed if this sales tax doesn’t pass. Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans depend on HCMC.
HCMC employs over 7,000 individuals, many of whom are union members, who work every day to serve residents from across the region who are at risk of losing their jobs if the hospital closes. Risking good union jobs will further destabilize the middle class.
This is an opportunity to invest deeply in public healthcare and build a stronger public healthcare system — perhaps one that can be structured as a public service with transparent financials and governance.
For this reason, Hennepin County is calling on the State of Minnesota to pass dedicated revenue for HCMC in the form of a 1.00% sales tax— and we need your help because your voice is powerful:
Please contact your State Senator and State Representative to tell them how important dedicated funding for HCMC is to the region and our families - and to ask them to support a sales tax increase for HCMC in the current Legislative Session.
Please ask three Minnesotans from across the state to do the same because votes from across the state and from both sides of the aisle are needed to pass this essential revenue plan.
Reach out if you have questions and please share if there are other efforts to communicate with legislators about saving HCMC. We will amplify efforts that reach our shared goal, and thank you for taking action to save HCMC!