Dear Neighbor,
I hope things are going well for you and yours this fall and I just wanted to pass along some quick notes.
The Mack family has grown by one as Justin and I – along with our daughter Amelia – welcomed William Jay Mack into the world. He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19.5 inches long at birth.
MNsure update
We have received updated information regarding the state-run health care program, MNsure. Key concerns we had leading up to its Oct. 1 implementation have come into play and remain unresolved today.
Not a single Minnesotan has been able to complete enrollment in MNsure, even though we are more than five weeks and $150 million in taxpayer dollars into the program. MNsure officials say nearly 11,000 are in the process of enrolling, but nobody has completed the full process.
This is extremely disappointing. Improvements in our health care system should have stressed the things citizens care about most: affordability, choice in doctors, quality care and data privacy. The program Gov. Mark Dayton and the legislative majorities enacted are falling short in all those of those areas.
Reports indicate individual market premiums will bring double-digit increases to Minnesotans. Just last week, the MNsure Board of Directors voted – without opposition – to charge the maximum tax on health insurance allowed by law for 2014. Minnesotans who eventually do enroll in the individual market through MNsure will see their policies taxed at a rate of 1.5 percent.
Continued sluggish enrollment could raise costs even further. Hardworking taxpayers can’t afford to pay even more for the implementation of government health care.
Similarly to what we are seeing at the federal level, it has been reported that as many as 280,000 Minnesotans will be forced to give up policies they like, with doctors of their choosing, for policies that will be more expensive and involve services they do not want.
Now, yesterday, in an attempt to mitigate the litany of concerns being brought forward, President Obama announced that people who want to keep their current plans can do so for one additional year. Unfortunately, this concession of the failings of the Affordable Care Act is six months too late, as health plans have been scrambling to transition their policies to meet the requirements of Obamacare. At this point, we do not know if it is even possible to go backward and re-issue people’s current policies. We are waiting to have this and many other questions answered by the commissioner of commerce, who regulates the health plans.
Gov. Mark Dayton, earlier this week, stated publicly that he wants to see people have the ability to maintain their current healthcare coverage. With the president's announcement yesterday, we will wait to see if the governor will allow people to keep their coverage or allow Obamacare to go forward as planned here in Minnesota. It is up to him to direct his staff at the Department of Commerce on how to move forward.
I will remain close to this situation as the minority lead on the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee, as well as through my position on the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee.
Thankful for our veterans
Earlier this week, we celebrated Veterans Day. Since we are in the time of year where we stop to recognize all that we are thankful for, I want to recognize and say thank you to the millions of heroes that have and continue to put themselves in harm’s way in order to secure our precious freedoms. Please join me in sending a thank-you to all the service members of our great nation. Thank you once again.
Have a good weekend!
Tara