ST. PAUL – House Republicans are sounding the alarm over a looming health insurance crisis following Friday’s news that final MNsure rates will rise 50 percent or more for 2017.
The latest rate increases are on top of hikes of up to 17 percent and 49 percent in the first two years of MNsure premium pricing adjustments. More than 75 percent of people who buy health insurance on their own do not receive any financial assistance from MNsure, undermining MNsure’s claims that tax credits will offset massive rate increases.
“I have heard from so many people frustrated with MNsure that I could fill a notebook,” said Rep. Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley. “People are at wit’s end over these continued rate increases and they feel like the government has backed them into a corner with a program that is neither affordable nor easily accessible as it was sold to the public.”
It also was announced Friday that the Minnesota Department of Commerce has approved enrollment caps that will limit Minnesotans’ access to federal financial assistance and ability to find health care coverage.
Enrollment caps limit the number of new enrollees for certain insurers who sell insurance on the individual market. Due to MNsure’s inability to accurately process applications in a timely manner, Minnesotans who attempt to enroll through MNsure could be left without coverage through no fault of their own. Those who enroll directly with an insurer typically receive confirmation of coverage immediately.
Earlier this year, Democrats proposed hiking the MNsure Tax by $40 million and raising health care costs by $1 billion through permanently restoring the sick tax. Meantime, House Republicans proposed legislation to reduce the MNsure Tax, which would have saved families at least $22 million over the next three years. The measure passed the House during the 2016 session, but was vocally opposed by DFL legislators.
“MNsure is pushing many people toward crisis mode and I don’t know how people are going to withstand this financial burden unless drastic changes are made during the 2017 legislative session,” Backer said. “This should be a major priority at the Capitol.”
Backer and numerous fellow Republicans sent a letter to Gov. Mark Dayton demanding action on a law signed by him in 2015 requiring the Department of Commerce to seek a waiver that would allow Minnesotans to access tax credits off of the MNsure exchange.
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