Governor Mark Dayton is talking about a special session to deal with the spike in premiums facing some who buy health insurance on the state-run MNsure exchange. But Dayton says calling lawmakers back to Saint Paul before the election would “just be mayhem.” He says, “I hope after the election we could rise to the urgency of this situation and come up with something that would have to have bipartisan support, but we’ll find that out in three weeks.” Republican Representative Greg Davids from Preston responds the governor needs to call a special session immediately. “I care more about the people,” Davids says. “They’re losing their doctors. They’re losing their health care plans that have no access. That’s much more important to me than politics.”
Dayton says he’ll have details of his plan this week or next. Minnesota House Democrats have already proposed a rebate so no one would spend more than 10 percent of their income on health insurance.
Here’s raw audio from Gov. Dayton’s scrum with reporters on Wednesday:
Here’s Scott Peterson’s interview with Rep. Greg Davids: