Rebate proposed for Minnesotans facing rising health insurance
ST PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - Gov. Mark Dayton proposed a plan that would provide Minnesotans facing rising health insurance premiums with a 25 percent monthly rebate.
The plan would directly reduce the premiums by 25 percent for Minnesotans purchasing insurance on the individual market. The proposed rebates would apply to people not eligible for a MNsure -- individuals making $47,000 or a family of four making $97,200. The plan would reduce rate increases from 55 percent to 16 percent for those Minnesotans.
At a press conference on Thursday, budget commissioner Myron Frans said health insurance rebates are the most efficient way to help reduce costs in the current crisis.
In a statement Dayton said the rebate proposal was drafted with three key objectives:
“Our Administration drafted this rebate proposal with the following key objectives. One, we have to be able to start it and administer it under severe time constraints. Those realities greatly limit our options.
“Two, the program has to provide immediate financial assistance to people, who would otherwise face excessive insurance price increases.
“And three, the program can cost no more than the amount of the additional surplus, currently estimated to be $313 million, which under current law, would be added to the existing $1.9 billion Budgeted Reserve Fund, when the next Budget Forecast is released on December 2nd."
On Monday, House Speaker Kurt Daudt was fired up about MNsure and threatened to call for the governor’s resignation if he did not feel he was working hard enough to fix the problems.