Expert testimony in today’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee highlighted the negative impact of Democrats’ proposed MinnesotaCare Buy-In plan.
An analysis done by Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm, found that 57,000 fewer Minnesotans would have health insurance coverage in 2020 than in 2019 under the MinnesotaCare Buy-In proposal, a decrease of approximately 65% of the non-subsidy-eligible market. According to the analysis, low-income family enrollment would not change, but middle-class families making 400% of the federal poverty line or more, like a family of four with a $100K income, would be hardest hit.
“Intuitively, we know expanding government-run health insurance will damage the private health insurance market the vast majority of Minnesotans depend on. Now there’s actuarial evidence to prove that even those who are supposed to benefit will be harmed under the MinnesotaCare Buy-In,” said Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake), Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “We need to have a fact-based conversation about the best path forward in Minnesota to truly lower the cost of health care for middle-class families.”
The analysis also found that health insurance premiums would soar under the MinnesotaCare Buy-In plan, increasing by 52% in just one year.
