ST. PAUL – For the second consecutive year, legislative reforms have proven to help reduce or hold flat individual market health insurance rates after years of double-digit increases following the implementation of Obamacare in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce released final rates for the 2019 individual insurance market on Tuesday. All five of the carriers on the individual market are lowering premiums for 2019, with average rates dropping between 7.4 percent and 27.7 percent. For example, reports show a family of four in the House District 29A area could save $1,980 on their premium costs over the next year.
“The health insurance reforms Republicans led to enactment this biennium are improving the individual insurance market, increasing accessibility and reducing premiums – all areas where people I talk with have encountered difficulties,” said Rep. Joe McDonald, R-Delano. “It is good to see rates are coming down, yet much more work is needed to make health care affordable for families and businesses. I have heard from many in my district that it is a crippling expense and I will work very hard to do whatever I can to continue to offer health care reform and lower costs.”
The individual market serves Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own, not through an employer or the government.
From 2014-2017, average rates increased by double digits every year, including up to 67 percent for 2017. Due to reforms enacted in 2017, individual market rates for 2018 remained flat or were reduced for most Minnesotans on the individual market. The Minnesota Department of Commerce confirmed last year and this year that without reforms, rates would have risen by 20 percent or more.
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