Calling for Immediate Action on Health Care Premium Relief

Governor Mark Dayton, DFL legislators and several Minnesotans affected by unaffordable premiums in the individual health insurance market gathered Tuesday, January 17, to urge Republican leaders to consider the Governor's premium relief proposal. Roughly 123,000 Minnesotans in the individual market have incomes exceeding the threshold for federal subsidies. In 2017, the health insurance premiums for this group increased by as much as 67 percent, causing some to forego health care or dip into savings.

Governor Dayton initially proposed his health insurance rebate plan in October, after the Commerce Department announced the premium increases in the individual marketplace. The plan would provide an immediate 25 percent health insurance premium rebate and is projected to cost $313 million dollars.

Last week, Senate Republicans passed Senate File 1, the 2017 Health Care Emergency Aid and Access Act, which would provide health insurance premium relief in addition to implementing reform measures. The Governor and DFL legislators urged Republican lawmakers to separate the relief part of the plan from the reform measures to ensure more immediate relief for Minnesotans.

House Tax Chair Greg Davids, R-Preston and co-chair of the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee, said in a released statement, "House Democrats had an opportunity on the first working day of session to declare an urgency and pass health care relief—they blocked it...It's simple: we need relief, continued access to life saving care, and key first steps to start fixing the individual market for next year."