Dear Neighbors,
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year holiday. I really enjoyed gathering and spending time with my family, and I hope you had a chance to do the same. With the 2019 legislative session beginning on Tuesday, January 8, it was great to enjoy some time relaxing with family before things get underway at the Capitol next week.
New Laws Take Effect
In addition to the beginning of a new calendar year, January 1 brought our state some new laws. On January 1, 2019, a handful of laws passed during the 2018 legislative session went into effect. These new laws address various issues, including reinsurance organizations, identity theft, PTSD for public safety personnel, waste collection systems, MA reimbursement rates, and step therapy.
I am especially pleased that a few of these laws will help lower healthcare costs. A new reinsurance law will allow “certified reinsurers” – a new class of reinsurance organization – to take on some risk of Minnesota health insurance companies, which can help lower premiums and healthcare costs for Minnesotans seeking coverage.
In addition, a new step therapy law establishes a step therapy protocol for prescription drug coverage and creates a process for overriding the protocol. This law puts common sense consumer protection in place for step therapy in order to ensure patients can receive the medication they need in a timely manner, while still allowing insurance companies to hold down rising healthcare costs. Minnesota still has work to do to continue lowering healthcare costs for families and individuals, and I am eager to see the impact that both of these new laws will have on reducing the cost of healthcare in our state.
If you’d like to see a full list of the new laws that took effect on January 1, please click on the following link: https://www.house.mn/hinfo/leginfo/0119nlrelease.pdf.
Please Contact Me
With the legislative session beginning on January 8, there will be plenty of issues coming before me in the weeks and months ahead. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about any of these matters. You can reach me by email at rep.peggy.scott@house.mn or by phone at 651-296-4231.
Have a great weekend,
Peggy