St. Paul, Minn. – Tonight on a vote of 73-54, the Minnesota House passed SF1, a bill to create a health insurance subsidy program for those on the individual market who have seen premiums increase in the neighborhood of 60 percent. As opposed to Gov. Dayton’s plan which provides Minnesotans a 25 percent rebate toward premiums immediately, SF1 makes them wait until 2018 for relief. Additionally, the bill contains substantial health insurance policy reforms, which were given limited opportunity for public input, and creates an expensive, temporary bureaucracy.
Rep. Jason Metsa (DFL – Virginia) released the following statement:
“We know that these 125,000 Minnesotans are looking for premium relief and looking for it now. The GOP majority again insists on using an economic crisis to rush unnecessary changes, like opening the door to for-profit health insurance companies, that are clearly designed to benefit their corporate special interest allies.
“All of us – Democrats and Republicans both – have identified this problem, and a solution to fix it. The deadline for these Minnesotans to select and enroll in a plan is coming up, and soon after that, bills will be due. Let’s come together and get this relief to Minnesotans now so these bills will be lower, and have a thorough, proper dialogue about major changes to our health insurance system later.”