Minnesota lawmakers have struck a deal to continue a state program credited with stabilizing the cost of health care premiums on the individual insurance marketplace.
The agreement announced Thursday between the divided Legislature comes just one day ahead of a deadline from the federal government to start processing a waiver to continue Minnesota's reinsurance program.
"It took a little bit longer than I was hoping for, but at the end of the day this is how the process is supposed to work," said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona. "This is a good compromise agreement."
Under the deal, reinsurance will be extended for another three years at a cost of more than $700 million from state coffers and $173 million shifted from a state health care fund. It also requires insurers to provide postnatal care to some enrollees on the marketplace.
Lawmakers were motivated to strike a deal before the deadline, worried about the possibility of premiums spiking while inflation and rising costs are already hitting Minnesota households.
"Minnesotans all over the state are relying upon us to make sure their premiums don't rise out of control, and the reforms that we adopted are also important and will help Minnesotans," said Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, who carried the reinsurance bill in the House.
First passed in 2017, reinsurance was designed as a way to combat double-digit premium hikes on the individual marketplace by helping health insurers cover some of the most expensive medical bills from enrollees. Roughly 163,000 Minnesotans are on the individual marketplace — also known as MNsure — and 235,000 people are insured through small group plans, according to the Department of Commerce.
But over the years, Republicans and Democrats disagreed about how much money to continue to funnel toward reinsurance, which was intended to be a temporary solution to spiking premiums.
