Governor Tim Walz’s revised budget plan — responding to a half-billion-dollar drop in the state’s expected budget surplus — scales back proposed spending by 100 million dollars, increases some corporate taxes, and leaves a smaller cushion of uncommitted dollars But what will be very controversial: Walz would “repurpose” 142 million dollars that Republicans want for another round of “reinsurance” to hold down health care premium increases. The governor says with reinsurance, “We hand it over to the insurance companies who tell us, if you don’t do this it’s (premiums) gonna go up 50 percent. They have never been able to tell me, if you *do* this, it’s gonna go down 50 percent. It’s still always really murky: [them saying] we think we’ll get some premium stabilization but we can’t be sure.”
Republicans respond “reinsurance” has held down health care premiums two years running, but Walz wants to keep a billion-dollar tax in place that medical patients end up paying, plus increase the gas tax.