The 140,000 Minnesotans who’ve been told their health insurance policies have been discontinued for failing to meet new standards of coverage required by the Affordable Care Act shouldn’t expect relief from the Legislature.
“The law has complicated insurance requirements that are not easily undone,” said Republican state Sen. David Hann, an insurance consultant. “This is like trying to squeeze toothpaste back into the tube.”
That hasn’t stopped some Republican legislators from running an online campaign against MNsure, the state implementation of the ACA. The Minnesota House Republican caucus Facebook page is demanding that Gov. Mark Dayton and state Democrats “fix MNsure & let Minnesotans keep their health insurance plans.”
But that can’t happen, according to GOP state Sen. Dave Thompson and the three other GOP candidates for governor because MNsure is complying with a federal law.
“I don’t know that there is a legislative remedy… other than getting rid of MNsure and putting back in place Medicaid and MinnesotaCare,” Thompson said. “As far as people who have lost their insurance, unless the federal government is willing to come in and allow people to buy insurance in free markets, it’s going to be nearly impossible for the state to take care of those people who have loss of coverage and now don’t have an affordable alternative.”
News organizations Thursday morning are reporting President Obama will soon propose an administrative fix to the health care law, allowing Americans who are losing their health insurance coverage to retain it.