MinnesotaCare expansion unlikely in 2024, key lawmaker says

The idea to expand MinnesotaCare with a “public option” so that more low-income Minnesotans could have affordable health coverage may be dead in the water this Legislative session, according to the chair of the House health panel.

“It’s not my intention to put the ‘public option’ in the omnibus bill,” said Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester).

Similarly, she said she has no plans to instruct relevant state departments to seek a 1332 waiver from the federal Affordable Care Act. The waiver permits states to pursue innovative strategies for providing residents with access to high quality, affordable health insurance.

Her comments came Tuesday as the House Health Finance and Policy Committee heard HF5317, a bill she sponsors that represents the governor’s budget proposal for the departments of human services and health.

The committee laid the bill over for possible consideration in larger legislation.

In February, a State Office Building hearing room was at capacity with lobbyists and members of the public to hear details of a report ordered by a 2023 law to examine the feasibility of expanding MinnesotaCare.

At that time, Liebling had seemed more receptive to the public option idea.

The Department of Health budget seeks appropriations for:

• implementation of federally funded health care for those who qualify under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy;
• increasing the number of mental health beds in the Department of Direct Care and Treatment system;
• strategies to assist people in moving from hospital settings to the community;
• provision of medical assistance substance use, mental health, and physical health services to people in correctional facilities; and
• operational funding for the new Department of Children, Youth, and Families.