Dear Neighbor,
It has been another busy and productive week at the Legislature. I hope this week’s snowfall didn’t slow you down too much.
Federal Tax Conformity
House File 2, conforming Minnesota tax code to federal tax code, passed the Senate Thursday and was signed into law by the Governor today. I am happy that the House was able to take the lead on tax relief this session. I look forward to supporting greater and more substantial relief later this year.
Health Insurance Cost Relief and Reform
House File 1, The 2017 Health Care Emergency Aid and Access bill, began going through the committee process this week after House Democrats blocked an effort to suspend the rules and take up the bill on a state of urgency last week. The bill has now been broken down into several parts and traveling its way through the committee process.
I was stunned earlier this week by my Democrat colleagues during a hearing of the Health and Human Services Committee. They said that health insurance premium relief directed at consumers isn’t feasible because it would take until 2018 to administer. How inept must our state government be if this is true? If state government cannot find a way to administer this relief in a timely and cost efficient manner, then they should subcontract it out to a private industry.
Governor Dayton and his commissioner appointees to the Department of Health, the Department of Commerce, and Minnesota Management and Budget favor giving millions of taxpayer dollars directly to health insurance companies to have them work towards relieving costs, instead of the House plan that sends premium relief directly to consumers. Unlike the Governor and his commissioners, I am loyal to the taxpayers of District 8B and the state of Minnesota.
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to save health insurance consumers $2,500 per year or more; that has simply not been reality. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that redistributing wealth is the way to lower health insurance costs. Democrats never intended to have the Affordable Care Act succeed. They hoped it would fail, so they could push a single-payer health care system. If you think your premiums and deductibles are expensive now, imagine the cost to the taxpayer if healthcare was “free.”
If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact me at either 651-296-3201 or rep.mary.franson@house.mn. I would love to hear from you.
I truly represent the best!
Sincerely,
