Last Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Commerce released final rates for the 2019 individual insurance market. For the second consecutive year, legislative reforms have proven to help reduce or hold flat individual market health insurance rates after years of double-digit increases following the implementation of Obamacare in Minnesota.

All five of the carriers on the individual market are lowering premiums for 2019, with average rates dropping between 7.4 percent and 27.7 percent. The individual market serves Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own, not through an employer or the government.

“When individual insurance rates sharply rose a few years ago many farmers, business owners, and families were pushed to a financial breaking point,” said Sen. Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks). “Even though rates are still at painful levels for individual payers, the momentum is changing. We delivered on our promise to stabilize the health insurance market, but we are not finished. More must be done to restore Minnesota’s status as a health care leader.”

From 2014-2017, average rates increased by double digits every year, including up to 67 percent for 2017. Thanks to legislative reforms enacted in 2017, individual market rates for 2018 remained flat or were reduced for most Minnesotans on the individual market. Analysis from the Minnesota Department of Commerce found that without reforms, rates would have risen by 20 percent or more.