Fridley Family Awash in Warnings about State Shutdown

Julie McMonigal didn't need to read the news to learn about the looming state-government shutdown. The Fridley resident only had to open her mail.

A letter from Anoka County told her that MinnesotaCare coverage could be suspended for her two children in case of a state shutdown. 

If that happens and her children need medical attention, McMonigal said, "there would be no way I would be able to pay that bill."

MinnesotaCare, Medicaid and co-pays cost the family $100 per month, per child, she said. But the actual price of prescriptions for just one of the children is $148 per month, and to cover that, she said, she and her husband "would have to rob Peter to pay Paul and we already struggle from pay check to pay check as it is."

McMonigal said she also learned that her children, who both have special needs, would lose Individual Education Program (IEP) services, including help with motor skills and speech, and other special education.

College and Work Too
Next McMonigal said she heard from the college she attends, National American University, that state payments on Pell grants would go unpaid in case of a shutdown, leaving students responsible for their account balances.

And the Minneapolis law firm where she works, McMonigal said, got a warning that attorneys may need reschedule cases in case a shutdown slows state courts.

"I'm a bucket of bad luck lately," McMonigal said in an email exchange today.