ST. PAUL – Minnesota families and individuals who buy medical insurance on their own could pay an average increase around 60 percent for the upcoming year according to information released on Healthcare.Gov Thursday.
Premiums in the MNsure health insurance exchange have risen in each of the three years since prices have been subjected to its rules, and now the current hike is projected to be the largest ever once updated numbers are finalized in the coming weeks. The impact of Thursday’s preliminary rate increases is compounded by increases of up to 17 percent and 49 percent in the past two years.
“This is a serious problem and common sense tells us this trajectory is unsustainable,” said Rep. Bob Vogel, R-Elko New Market. “What concerns me most is MNsure basically abandoned a comprehensive privately run system that had issues, but worked and was generally affordable. The new MNsure system put in place in 2013 now has people enduring something they cannot afford, and probably not permitting the care they deserve.”
“MNsure was pitched as a program that was supposed to deliver affordable, accessible health care insurance, but the results have failed to live up to most, if not all, of its cornerstone objectives. Worse yet, the private sector system that served us for generations could now be obsolete because the new rules imposed by the government have changed both the way providers and payers now handle care.
“The way I see it, we need to take a strategic look at MNsure, and other methods of delivering and paying for health care, because the current system is unsustainable and unaffordable. There already has been $400 million spent on this program so we need to have a well thought out, bi-partisan plan before spending any more on the existing model. The plan needs to be driven by the users of care rather than political priorities. And most importantly it needs to be sustained by the marketplace so artificial controls and priorities don’t disrupt the true reason for health care which are the people who need and deserve it.
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