On Monday, the Minnesota Department of Commerce released preliminary rates for the state’s 2018 individual insurance market, revealing that recent legislative reforms could reverse a multi-year pattern of double-digit premium increases that have plagued the state since the implementation of Obamacare and MNsure. Sen. Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids) issued the following statement:

“Since 2014 Minnesota’s individual health insurance market has been plagued with a trend of unsustainable double-digit premium increases that have threatened to put our state’s market on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, as a result of Republican led initiatives the people of our state now stand to see those rates decline for the first time in several years. Through continued reform we can continue work together to drive down costs and ensure that health care remains affordable and accessible to the people of Minnesota.”

Senator Utke is serving his first term in the legislature representing Senate District 2, which includes communities in Becker, Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Otter Tail and Wadena counties.