Minnesota should begin now to protect consumers as the new federal health care law is implemented.
Stephen Parente, a professor of finance at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, told the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee Feb. 1 the state should build its own insurance exchange that would include elements required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for sharing certain personal data. Consumers could opt out of sharing information, but could pay a much higher premium. Minnesota could be a leader for other states to follow in creating the exchange by 2013, Parente said.
“We have a tradition of leading,” said Rep. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul). “Much of what is in the affordable care act looks a lot like what we’ve already been working on in Minnesota.”
Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL-Duluth) questioned Parente’s suggestion of a high-deductible health plan for people with chronic diseases.
“The research that I’ve done looking at folks with chronic conditions that are in the insured population that are having high deductible health plans suggests that they are not being hurt by that design,” Parente responded. If there are those in need who need to be fiscally covered, they could be put in a separate pool in a needs-based plan, he said.
Parente said the new law would add to the federal deficit by $287 billion through various measures, including expanding Medicaid to certain adults.
He noted additional costs of the enactment could be passed onto consumers through individual and small group premiums that could increase at a minimum 8 percent per year. For instance, he projects that a health care package that currently costs $11,770 could increase to $21,639 by 2019.
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