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State Representative Mary Franson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3201
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Health Exchange
January 4, 2012 a joint article with myself and Kendall Antekeier of Heartland Institute was blasted out to the newspapers in MN regarding the Health Insurance Exchange. (The media has yet to publish this article)
The Health Insurance Exchange is the lynchpin of Obama Care and I am working on stopping this legislation from becoming law. Please read why I oppose this Health Insurance Exchange and remember - a MN Exchange or a Federal Exchange - it's all the same - rules are written by the Federal Government. There is no Minnesota Nice Exchange.
Why MN Should Refuse the Health Insurance Exchange
By: Kendall Antekeier of Heartland Institute and Rep. Mary Franson (R-11B)
The threat of a federal takeover of health care is leading states to believe a state-crafted health insurance exchange will let them maintain control over their health systems. However, after wiping away the hype and hysteria, states like Minnesota are realizing the opposite is true.
Last session, State Representative Steve Gottwalt (R-15A) introduced HF 497, a bill to create a health insurance exchange. At that time, a commonly held belief by several legislators was that Minnesota should create its own exchange instead of letting the federal government take control. However, after learning more about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and health insurance exchanges, it became increasingly clear that implementing a PPACA exchange in Minnesota would lead the state in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, Governor Dayton recently issued an executive order to form a health care reform task force to design and develop a health insurance exchange.
Therefore, what the Governor and health exchange supporters have yet to acknowledge is that threat of a federally run health exchange is a false threat. Further examination of the PPACA reveals that the health law does not provide funding for federal health insurance exchanges. Instead, the law provides federal premium subsidies only in state-crafted exchanges. Therefore, if Minnesota chose to not establish a health insurance exchange, the federal government would not have the funding to implement a federal health exchange. PPACA would need to be reopened by Congress to make the necessary appropriations. With that event extremely unlikely, refusing to craft an insurance exchange can halt PPACA in Minnesota.
Additionally, contrary to the rhetoric streamlining from the federal government, no health insurance exchange can be a “state” exchange. Due to the restrictions set by the federal government in the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, Minnesota will not have control over the health insurance exchange or flexibility in its development. The federal health care law grants the federal government complete authority and oversight over all health exchanges, including those created by states. Additionally, the law explicitly gives the federal government the power to completely commandeer any health exchange that does not meet all federal requirements. Therefore, attempts by the state of Minnesota to push away from the federal health law will be met by federal resistance. Flexibility is nowhere to be found in health insurance exchanges under PPACA’s constraints. Since state health exchanges must meet all federal requirements, the state of Minnesota would be paying to create a federal health exchange.
News Items
- Legislative Update (May 24, 2013) - (Posted: May 24 2013 2:09PM)
- Legislative Update (May 17, 2013) - (Posted: May 17 2013 1:48PM)
- Legislative Update (May 10, 2013) - (Posted: May 10 2013 4:06PM)
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