Sen. Dayton Launches HMO Complaint Hotline

Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) has established a toll-free number in his home office for Minnesotans who believe they have unfairly been denied coverage by their insurer, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. "[F]ormalizing a practice" he initiated during his campaign last year, Dayton has "set aside" three staff members to answer his "Health Care Help Line" -- 866-296-4319 -- and assist constituents with problems. The senator, who donates his Senate salary to the Minnesota Seniors Foundation "to finance [prescription] drug-buying" bus trips to Canada for seniors, said that the goal of the phone line was to help people with private insurance navigate the "bureaucracy" associated with approvals and denials of care. Dayton's office is also running public service advertisements to promote the help line. Dayton said he personally paid for the ads, but the phone line and its staff are funded through his office budget (Ragsdale, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 8/7).