Under a bill headed to Governor Tim Walz, the state will pay 700 million dollars over the next three years for care of the most seriously-ill Minnesotans, continuing a program called “reinsurance” to hold down health insurance premiums for everyone else. Senate Republican Majority Leader Jeremy Miller says it “helps stabilize the individual health insurance market. It helps keep costs down and it provides access for Minnesotans.”
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Melisa Lopez Franzen objects to “700 million dollars for the insurance companies, at a time where we can’t even agree with 250 million dollars… (for) front-line workers.” COVID bonuses have been stalemated at the Capitol for over a year.
Many Democrats are less-than-satisfied with the compromise struck with Senate Republicans.
Representative Tina Liebling (LEEB-ling) from Rochester says Republicans keep giving money to insurance companies, when all Minnesotans should be able to enroll in MinnesotaCare: “Maybe they could get out of the clutches of the private market which is serving them so poorly.” Democrats say “reinsurance” does nothing to reduce health care costs, which are driving up insurance premiums.