Partisan finger-pointing has resumed at the State Capitol after preliminary health insurance premium numbers for 2020 were released, ranging on average from a 1.4 percent drop to a 4.8 percent increase. House Deputy Minority Leader Anne Neu credits Republican-backed “reinsurance” with holding down premiums for three years running but says, “The proposals that the Democrats were bringing forward, we were going to see skyrocketing rates again.” House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler responds, “Writing a blank check to insurance companies will help to keep premiums down, but it is not sustainable for Minnesota taxpayers.”
Democrats want MinnesotaCare available to all Minnesotans regardless of income. Neu says about that: “Those proposals were gonna do nothing to bring down the cost of care. Not only that, they were going to destroy our rural health care system,” because she says MinnesotaCare does not reimburse hospitals for the actual cost of care. House Democratic Majority Leader Winkler responds, “We would not pass any public program that would put rural hospitals out of business.”