Minnesota's efforts to limit spiking premiums for some insurance customers was mired in confusion Wednesday, with politicians from both parties expressing anger over the Trump administration's handling of the matter.
Gov. Mark Dayton said at a news conference that he's trying to get a definitive answer from officials at the federal Department of Health and Human Services on whether it would grant the waiver needed to operate Minnesota's "reinsurance" program, an infusion of more than $500 million in state money aimed at lessening premium hikes in the state's individual insurance market.
While federal officials have long signaled that the waiver would be forthcoming, Dayton said, the state still has not received official word. At the same time, he said federal officials indicated for the first time last week that federal tax credits that would flow through the new reinsurance program would likely be offset by a reduction in federal support for the state's Basic Health Plan. The program, known as MinnesotaCare, provides insurance to low-income workers.
The lack of certainty is a problem for insurance companies that are running out of time to adjust their rates, the DFL governor said. Without an answer from Washington, he said it's increasingly likely that Minnesota insurers will set individual market rates, on average, 20 percent higher than what customers would pay with reinsurance. State law calls for the public release of final 2018 insurance rates by Oct. 2.
"We've done everything we can to resolve this," Dayton said. "I don't want to scare people, we don't want to scare people about what might happen in the future. But we can't avoid that reality any longer."
The DFL governor was not the only Minnesota politician upset over the federal lack of response. U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, a Republican, said that the administration must grant the waiver immediately and that it would be "wrong" to make corresponding cuts to MinnesotaCare.
"The agency misled our elected officials and undermined all of our good work by planning to cut the Basic Health Plan's funds without notice," Paulsen said, adding he was "appalled" and calling for immediate approval of the waiver and restoration of MinnesotaCare funding.
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Paulsen wrote that MinnesotaCare "provides affordable coverage for more than 100,000 low-income Minnesotans." Federal cuts would "ultimately increase health care costs statewide," he added.