Greetings,
This week, a special election was held in Roseville to fill the remaining open seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
A FULL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
The House had been operating with 67 Republicans and 66 Democrats. Despite Tuesday’s election results bringing the House into a tie, nothing will change. Lisa Demuth will continue to be Speaker, and our committees will continue moving ahead. Setting a state budget remains our top priority.
REINSURANCE PROGRAM NEEDS EXTENSION
As many of you know, I have worked hard over the years on Minnesota’s reinsurance program. Reinsurance helps people who are forced to buy health insurance on the individual market. This means they do not have coverage from their employer, Medicare, Medicaid, or MinnesotaCare. Roughly 100,000 Minnesotans fall in this category. The individuals who purchase insurance this way are often farmers or small business owners or are considered high risk because of their medical conditions.
The state’s contributions to this program, combined with federal credits, help bring premium costs down. Both reinsurance and the federal credits are set to expire this year. If they are not renewed, impacted purchasers can expect to see extremely higher increases in premiums, with increases ranging between 35% - 50%+. If insurance becomes unaffordable, and people experience injury or illness, not only will they face financial hardship but they could face bankruptcy and be forced to rely on more government-sponsored safety net programs.
STATEWIDE PENSION ANALYSIS
Ensuring the continued future health of our state’s pension plans has always been of interest to me. We’re fortunate that in Minnesota, our plans are doing much better than in other states.
You may recall that I am also a member of the bipartisan and bicameral pension commission. Recently we began our review of pensions and retirement plans and have found we will only need to address some general housekeeping items this year, which is good news.
KEEP IN TOUCH
As always, I'm continuing to support constituent needs. Feel free to contact me anytime at rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.gov or by phone at 651-296-7808.
Have a good weekend,
Tim