Minnesota lawmakers want special session, but still pointing fingers for health care crisis

Premiums expected to rise up to
67 percent for 250,000 Minnesotans

Several Minnesota legislators want Gov. Mark Dayton to call a special session to deal with skyrocketing health insurance premiums through the state’s MNsure insurance marketplace. 

Premiums for the 250,000 (five percent of the population) buying insurance on the open market and through MNSure are expected to skyrocket by up to 67 percent. The 95 percent of population that gets insurance through an employer should not be effected.

“Not only are we seeing insurance deductibles and premium increase significantly but we’re also seeing options and choices become fewer and fewer,” Senator Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, said, adding that his constituents in Fillmore, Winona and Houston counties have either one option or, in many cases, no options for health insurance. “It’d be easy for me to sit back and point the finger at someone else. I did not vote for MNSure. But that would not solve the issue that thousands of Minnesotans are facing.”

The increases are the result a disproportionate concentration of people with serious medical conditions in the individual market, Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman said last week in announcing the 2017 rates last week.

Fixing the problem, however, won’t be easy.

“Most of what we can do at the state level requires federal approval,” Miller said.

Miller says ditching the state program and joining Minnesota with the federal exchange may be the way to go. 

Wednesday, Republicans called a press conference to outline ways to fix the problem, and, of course, criticize Democrats for blocking attempts to change MNSure.

“We’ve put forth some real solutions that will help Minnesotans immediately,” House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Zimmerman, said. “They’re not going to be the silver bullet or answer to everyone’s problems, but it will be a start. But, what I need is a Democrat in the state of Minnesota to admit that there’s a crisis and to join in solving that problem.”

The finger pointing didn’t stop there. Democrats called a press conference of their own immediately after.

It was there that House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, began criticizing Republicans for not taking action during their past two years in the majority.

“Republicans have a pattern of waiting until the last minute and then trying to say ‘Oh man, we have an emergency and we need to solve it.’ That’s what they’re doing again,” Thissen said. “Where have you been for two years?”