ST. PAUL – Area MNsure customers who unknowingly had liens put on their estates last year and local counties would benefit from legislation being chief-authored by State Representative Jason Rarick (R-Pine City).
“One bill will continue to address the MNsure lien mess while the other will likely save Pine County hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Rarick said.
Last year a number of Pine County residents unknowingly had liens placed on their property after signing up for health insurance through MNsure. MNsure gave them only one option – Medical Assistance – and the residents signed up. Later they discovered that their insurance would be paid for through liens on their estate after they had died.
Last session, Rarick offered legislation that required the reimbursement to the estate of any Medical Assistance recipient aged 55 to 64 who received services, other than institutionalization, retroactive to January 1, 2014.
This session, Rarick is attempting to remove the 55-year-old provision and the claim date limitation.
His second bill addresses the out-of-home placement costs of children under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Under current law, if a Native American child is removed from the home, the issue is taken to a tribal court and the child is placed in another tribal family. Often times that family lives across the state. These out-of-home placement costs are automatically assumed by the home county, and in the case of Pine County alone, that bill totals roughly $650,000 a year.
Rarick’s legislation would transfer the financial burden to the state rather than the county.
Both of his bills are currently being debated in the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee.