Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Legislative News and Views - Rep. Regina Barr (R)

Back to profile

RELEASE: Statement from Rep. Barr on Preliminary Individual Market Rates

Friday, June 15, 2018

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

ST. PAUL, 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.

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.

“I'm proud to have supported key reforms that lowered health care costs and increased the number of health care choices for families,” said Rep. Regina Barr, R-Inver Grove Heights. “Minnesota is on the right track in once again being a nation leader on health care—today's news is another step in the right direction, and such wonderful news for families who are concerned about health care costs.”

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.

Republicans also pushed for and successfully passed other key reforms to increase the number of health care options for Minnesotans by expanding agriculture co-op plans, and allowing more insurers into the market, a move that is already paying dividends for seniors on Medicare and employees.

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.

###