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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

HEALTH CARE

MNsure rolls out on Tuesday

More than 140 health insurance plans will be available for families, businesses

Tom Klein
Posted 9/30/13

REGIONAL – Minnesota consumers will be able to buy a health plan for as little as $90.59 per month on MNsure, the new state health insurance marketplace set to launch on Oct. 1, according to state …

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HEALTH CARE

MNsure rolls out on Tuesday

More than 140 health insurance plans will be available for families, businesses

Posted

REGIONAL – Minnesota consumers will be able to buy a health plan for as little as $90.59 per month on MNsure, the new state health insurance marketplace set to launch on Oct. 1, according to state Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman.

Rothman said Minnesota has the lowest average rates for individuals and families compared to the other states that have revealed the cost of their plans. A total of 141 individual, family and business plans are expected to be offered from five companies — Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthPartners, Medica, PreferredOne and UCare, according to MNsure representatives. The plans are categorized by “metal level,” bronze, silver, gold and platinum based on the portion of a person’s health costs the plan will pay for. Rothman said all Minnesota counties would be served by at least two insurers.

“For many Minnesotans, financial help through MNsure will mean that they will be able to afford health care coverage for the first time,” said Brian Beutner, chairman of MNsure’s Board of Directors.

Plans sold through MNsure will offer high-quality coverage that will include prescription drugs, maternity, preventative visits and hospitalization, among other benefits.

“Minnesotans in every corner of the state, regardless of income, age or medical history, will be able to choose from multiple plans to find the coverage that is right for them,” said April Todd-Malmlov, executive director of MNsure.

The Minnesota Hospital Association has long supported the creation of a health exchange in Minnesota, said Matt Anderson, vice president of regulatory and strategic affairs for the organization.

“We know that study after study has shown the uninsured put off preventive care,” said Anderson, and typically wind up in emergency rooms when their health issues reach a crisis point. “We can treat people much more effectively and at less cost if they begin to use primary care to improve their health instead of waiting until there is a medical emergency.”

Cook Hospital Administrator Al Vogt agrees and noted that hospitals treating the uninsured and underinsured are frequently forced to write off bad debt for patients who can’t pay for their care.

“We hope that MNsure is a benefit both to the patients and health care facilities,” he said.

Mike Holmes, chief executive officer for Scenic Rivers Health Services, gears his expectations for the program to Massachusetts, the state that provided the model for the national health care plan. The number of people enrolled in insurance programs rose and the demand for health care services swelled accordingly in that state when a similar insurance exchange was created, he noted.

Scenic Rivers has received a grant to hire staff to assist people in enrolling in MNsure. One of the newly-hired eligibility workers will serve the Cook, Tower and Floodwood clinics while the second will help patients at clinics in Bigfork, Big Falls and Northome. Holmes also noted that staff at all the clinics would also receive training on helping people enroll in MNsure.

Like many others, however, Scenic Rivers is waiting on the state for guidance.

“Our members and we were anticipating training and certification much earlier than this,” said Anderson. “They’re anxious and worried about the short timeframe.”

It’s not the only setback for MNsure. Botched grants, a data security breach involving more than 1,000 Social Security numbers, and ridicule over an advertising campaign using Minnesota icon Paul Bunyan are among the stumbles that have tripped up MNsure’s rollout.

But Beutner expressed confidence that the agency will be ready to launch the MNsure exchange on time, with backup plans on standby.

Anderson said he expects some hiccups initially but compared it to the release of the iPhone or new computer software. “There will be some glitches, but they’ll get fixed and it will keep improving,” he predicted.

The state’s health insurance exchange launch also coincides with some Republicans’ renewed attempt to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Some have threatened to shut down the government unless the Affordable Health Care Act is repealed, but the prospect of a showdown has cooled recently.

Anderson observed that Medicare faced similar opposition when it was first enacted. “It was considered an abject failure by its critics and called socialized medicine,” he said. “Now, regardless of your party affiliation, everyone’s very supportive of Medicare.”

Meanwhile, premiums for health insurance offered through the exchanges in other states have actually been less costly than predicted. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation looked at the rates publicly reported in 17 states and concluded almost all of the premiums will be lower than what was projected by the Congressional Budget Office.

How much

will it cost?

Even so, its uncharted territory for Minnesota, Anderson acknowledged. That’s why the Minnesota Hospital Association has been researching how the rollout of exchanges has been handled in other states, especially in Massachusetts.

One of the more surprising discoveries in Massachusetts was that people who were now insured were still depending on emergency room care. “Just giving someone an insurance card isn’t enough,” Anderson said. “We need to educate them about where to access health care.”

Another byproduct of the exchange in Massachusetts was that more employers began offering insurance programs for their workers, said Anderson.

Minnesota, however, is much more rural and geographically larger so that will have an impact on how much the state mimics what happened in Massachusetts, Anderson added.

In fact, Minnesota is divided into nine regions with rates and plans varying in each region. St. Louis County and neighboring counties such as Koochiching, Lake, Cook and Itasca are in Region 2.

For a 25-year-old in Region 2, a bronze plan would cost $122 per month for someone earning from $22,981 to $45,960. However, they would be also eligible for premium assistance ranging from zero to $42, bringing the potential cost as low as $80.

A silver plan under the same parameters would cost $163 before premium assistance, a gold plan would $190 and platinum plan $203.

The rates for a 40-year-old in the same circumstances would be $155 for a bronze plan, with premium assistance ranging from zero to $87. The silver plan would cost $207, the gold plan would cost $242 and the platinum plan would cost $258.

For 60-year-olds, the rate goes up but so does the premium assistance. Cost for the bronze plan is $329, but seniors would be eligible for premium assistance ranging from $77 to $320, bringing the cost for the monthly premium to as low as $9 and as high as $252.

A silver plan, before applying health assistance premiums, would run $439, the gold plan would cost $513 and the platinum plan premium would be $548.

Anderson noted that many people would be eligible for the expanded Medical Assistance and would not have to pay anything for insurance. For example, a family of four in Region 2 earning up to $31,322 would be eligible for Medical Assistance under the bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans.

A family of four earning between $31,323 and $47,100 would have the children covered under Medical Assistance while the parents would be covered under the existing MinnesotaCare program at a cost ranging from $42 to $100.

Anderson said another important component of the health exchange is that insurers can no longer deny people coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.

“Historically, people who have tried to obtain coverage were turned away because of pre-existing conditions such as cancer, a mental health condition, or even because they were expecting,” he said. “We really want to encourage them to look into obtaining insurance now that they can’t be denied.”

More information on Minnesota’s health insurance exchange can be found at www.mnsure.org.

Minnesota Public Radio contributed to this report.