ST. PAUL – A plan that could reduce health insurance premiums by nearly 20 percent has been approved on a bipartisan basis in the Minnesota House. State Representative Jason Rarick (R-Pine City) supported the legislation called the Minnesota Premium Security Plan.
“Finding ways to lower health insurance costs is one of our top legislative goals,” Rarick said. “Earlier this session we provided some relief and made some reforms that improve health care options and drive down costs, and this is yet another way to address premium concerns.”
The bill states that the Minnesota Premium Security Plan will be administered by the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA), which for over forty years ran a high risk pool that brought stability to the individual market and ensured the sickest Minnesotans had access to needed coverage. It will be funded using existing revenue sources.
The MCHA board will have the authority to design payment parameters to mitigate risk, stabilize or reduce premium rates, increase participation, and account for federal funding available for the plan.
Under the plan, once insurers hit $50,000 in claims, they would be eligible for a 50 to 70 percent reimbursement, funded by the established system, up to $250,000 in claims.
“We’ve heard about the money we’re putting into insurance companies, and I share that concern, but in this instance we’re looking at something that could lower people’s rates by 17 to 18 percent or more,” Rarick said. “Remember, this is the position we’ve been put in by the MNsure program and Obamacare and now we’re forced to try and help Minnesotans with their premiums, stabilize the market, and ensure we have an individual health insurance market next year