Hennepin Healthcare seeks Target Field sales tax amid financial crisis

It's a place that sees patients in the worst of times. And now, Hennepin Healthcare in downtown Minneapolis is in the worst of ways. 

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, of Brooklyn Park, told WCCO this is August 2025: "We've hit the moment where it is critical."

Now, as WCCO found out, the fight to save the hospital means they are taking fewer patients.

Trauma care is what the hospital, also known as HCMC, is known for, as well as the burn unit and hypobaric chamber. Those services will continue, but things here are changing, with hospital leaders cutting the capacity by 100 beds.

"I think you are gonna see this not just in Hennepin Healthcare, but the days of us all doing everything, those days are over," Lunde said. 

The county, which took control of the hospital because of growing budget questions, is cutting five departments:

• Chiropractic/Acupuncture 
• Senior Specific Care 
• Sleep Lab
• Interventional Pain Care
• Weight Management

 WCCO asked Lunde what they are saying to patients whose providers were cut. 

"What's the worst hospital of all? It's the one that's closed," Lunde said. "If we don't make these changes, there's something else that may happen."

He says those specific departments are being cut due to cost. The reason for the pinch, according to Lunde, was budget confusion, a $1 billion Medicaid funding cut and the demise of Ucare, which he says owes over $100 million.

Lunde says 40% of its patients are not from Hennepin County, and 100% of the deficit has traditionally been paid by property taxes.

But they have a new idea. The hope is the Minnesota Legislature will allow them to extend and increase the sales tax that paid for Target Field, an action they say would help them help others.

Lunde says time is of the essence.

"If at the end of this session we do not get that sales tax, we are gonna have to make some very tough choices, including potentially closing the hospital," he said.

Another reason for Hennepin Healthcare's debt: they are a safety net hospital for people who don't have insurance. 

Unless it's an emergency, they will stop providing that free care for people unless they live in Hennepin County.