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Statement from Rep. Kelly Fenton on Preliminary Individual Market Rates

Friday, June 15, 2018

For second year in a row, Republican reforms lead to lower health care costs

Woodbury, MN—On Friday the Minnesota Department of Commerce released preliminary rates for the 2019 individual insurance market, revealing that for the second consecutive year, Republican-led reforms have helped reduce or hold flat individual market health insurance rates after years of double-digit increases following the implementation of Obamacare in Minnesota.

All five of the carriers on the individual market are projected to decrease premiums for 2019, with average preliminary rates dropping between 3% and 12.4%. The individual market serves Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own, not through an employer or the government.

“Today, Woodbury families are seeing the positive results of reforms passed by the Legislature to bring stability to our individual market, lower costs and increase choice,” said Rep. Kelly Fenton, R-Woodbury. “Every single insurer is showing an average decrease in rates for 2019, reversing a several year trend of harmful double-digit premium increases. I will continue to advocate for policy solutions that work for the people and priorities of Woodbury.”

From 2014-2017, average rates increased by double digits every year, including nearly 60 percent for 2017. Thanks to Republican reforms enacted in 2017, individual market rates for 2018 remained flat or were reduced for most Minnesotans on the individual market. The Minnesota Department of Commerce confirmed last year that without Republican reforms, rates would have risen by 20% or more.

House Republicans also successfully passed a nation-leading reform that ensured Minnesotans would have greater access to more doctors by requiring that plans on the individual market provide in-network access to more than one provider system, reversing the trend towards narrower networks.

Final rates for the 2019 individual market are expected to be released in October 2018.