Organizers say that more than 1,700 people enrolled in coverage from two new agricultural cooperative health plans during recently completed open enrollment periods for the Minnesota program.
Starting in 2018, the health plans are an alternative to the state's troubled individual market, where farmers are among the roughly 166,000 people who have seen steep premium hikes since major changes came to coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act.
More than 1,000 people are enrolled in coverage from 40 Square Cooperative Solutions, according to a spokeswoman from the St. Paul-based group. Arden Hills-based Land O'Lakes said Monday that more than 700 people were obtaining coverage through its new health plan.
"We feel it's a very good starting point for us," said Char Vrieze, the project manager at 40 Square.
Critics said the new co-op plans could damage the individual market further if they pull healthy people from the risk pool where most self-employed people and those who don't get coverage from an employer buy health insurance.
But Lynn Blewett, a health policy researcher at the University of Minnesota, said Monday: "I think these numbers suggest a relatively small impact on the overall individual market."
She said a key question is whether those who signed up for the new farmer plans previously lacked health insurance, or switched coverage from an individual or employer health plan. Another question, she said, is whether the new plans drew an unusually healthy group of customers.
40 Square charges applicants different rates depending on the responses they provide to questions about their health history. Critics questioned whether the group would wind up "cherry-picking" customers by offering low rates to healthy enrollees, while effectively pushing those with costly health problems to other markets by charging higher premiums.
