Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin narrowly escaped a looming $3.1 million blow yesterday when Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the Health and Human Services budget bill.

Although the cuts may still come if the Legislature strikes a deal with Dayton in special session this summer, the hospital is safe for now.

The bulk of cuts would have come from the elimination of Medical Assistance eligibility for adults without children. In total, the bill slashed about $1.2 billion from Health and Human Services.

Local legislators previously expressed disappointment with the cuts.

“When it comes down to the local level, $3.1 million would affect a lot of people,” Sen. Dan Sparks said.

The Austin Democrat voted against the bill primarily because of the number of people it would have impacted. Sparks said he spoke with officials from MCHS Austin who were very concerned with the budget reduction.

“This coupled with some of the other cuts that are taking place … get to the point that it’s going to be brutal for a minute,” he said.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, agreed with Sparks and added that the cuts wouldn’t encourage people to seek preventative care.

“The biggest way to save money is to prevent more serious health issues from occurring,” Poppe said. “With the bill, when you’re taking away health insurance for people, it’s less likely that they’re going to go in for preventative care.

“It’s more likely they’ll put things off until they just can’t take it anymore or something more severe happens to them.”

Until the special session begins, though, hospital officials and legislators are playing the waiting game.

A Mayo representative said he and other hospital officials are hoping the final budget doesn’t include such harsh cuts.

“We are hopeful that as the governor and Legislature work toward a final budget solution that important provisions, such as early enrollment into Medicaid, can be salvaged,” he said.