Gov. Tim Walz and Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold talked about a plan to keep individual plan health care costs more affordable and save taxpayer dollars on Thursday afternoon.
His proposal would shift the portion of the reinsurance the state is responsible for from taxpayers to insurers. It applies to the individual insurance market which is for people who are not covered through their employers or eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.
Minnesota’s reinsurance program started in 2017. In 2022, a five-year extension to the program was passed and signed by Walz. The program was created to help stabilize high health insurance premiums on the market by reimburing claims for high-cost claims with state-funded dollars.
The proposed reinsurance change would require insurance companies to have a fund that covers high-cost procedures.
Walz is also proposing to up the surcharge levied on health maintenance organizations to 1.25% of total premium revenue from 0.6% as a way “to ensure large health care corporations pay their fair share.”