Minnesota Lawmakers Approve Exchange Bill

Minnesota lawmakers have signed off on a law to create a state-run health insurance exchange that is expected to accept its first enrollees in October and provide insurance coverage to as many as 1.3 million state residents beginning in January 2014.

The Senate passed the bill last Thursday on a 37-28 vote, mostly along party lines split between Republicans, which opposed the bill, and Democratic Farmer Laborers, which is Minnesota's Democratic party. Lawmakers in the House approved it the prior Monday, also mostly along party lines. Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill into law.

The bill is expected to give Minnesota the impetus to build its own exchange just before federal deadlines later this month. If Minnesota had missed the deadline, the exchange would have been operated by the federal government instead.

Dayton called the legislation a “gargantuan effort,” noting that it had been through nine different committees since January, as well as 150 different attempts to amend it. Most of the amendments were introduced by Republicans opposed to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One notable amendment banning insurers participating in the exchange from covering abortions made it in one of the last versions of the bill and survived intact.

Minnesota's exchange is expected to have a $60 million annual operating budget, and will be governed by a seven-member board of directors. Along with 1 million or so individual enrollees and small employer groups expected to obtain coverage through the exchange, another 300,000 Minnesotans currently lacking insurance are expected to purchase coverage subsidized via tax credits.

Health plans expected to offer coverage through the exchange have a May 17 deadline to submit their planned premiums to the Minnesota Department of Commerce for review.