Future of Minnesota's Health Care Exchange

As Minnesota prepares to grapple with the rapidly changing health insurance marketplace, a bill before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday, March 23, would end MNsure, Minnesota’s state-run health insurance marketplace. In response to the recent action in the House Committee on Health and Human Services that voted in favor of abolishing MNsure for the federal healthcare.gov exchange, Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, brought SF 1148 before the committee to have the debate about whether to stay with MNsure, move to the federal exchange, or offer an alternative.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Scott Jenson, R-Chaska, amended the measure to establish a private state-based marketplace. "I think MNsure has been a tool to bring us to a certain point in time," said Jensen. He said that policymakers need to "sharpen their pencils" as they consider ways to move forward.

Senator Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, reminded committee members that "there a large swaths of Minnesotans that this is working well for, that they are getting their health insurance as they need it, they are getting covered, they are able to access the doctors and get the care that they need."

The committee did not act on the measure.