on January 26, 2018

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Kris Greene goes to Washington to Defend Medicaid Against Union Dues-Skimming: Crockett in NRO

Written by Kim Crockett

Kris and I indulged by splitting a HUGE apple fritter. Believe me, we walked it off. We wish all our PCAs from Minnesota could have been there. We will keep you posted on the legislation as it progresses. And also the union decertification led by Kris and other PCAs with help from attorney Doug Seaton in Minnesota. We need both to succeed. ...

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on January 05, 2018

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What if health care was more like the auto insurance market?

Written by Peter Zeller

in Healthcare

In a recent Star Tribune letter, Dr. John Dryer of Maple Grove tried to argue against free-market health care reform but he unwittingly illustrated one of the main problems with the American health care system. Dryer was responding to a previous Start Tribune letter by Kyle Christensen that opposed state mandates and argued that “the best way to help individuals buy health insurance is to reduce the cost of it.” Dryer’s response was that taking his point “to its logical conclusion, the state should drop the requirement that car drivers carry insurance.” Car insurance is relatively affordable because the power of competition...

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on December 04, 2017

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Big Tax Cuts Likely for 80,000 Minnesotans Charged Obamacare Penalty

Written by Tom Steward

in Healthcare

One of the most significant provisions of the Senate tax cuts got lost in the media frenzy immediately following passage. On the way to approving the most comprehensive tax reform since Reagan, the Senate also voted to kill Obamacare's individual mandate. And it doesn't exactly fit the liberals' narrative of tax breaks for the rich. The repeal amounts to a major tax cut in itself for millions of Americans. The beneficiaries of getting to keep their own money include nearly 82,000 Minnesotans who paid the federal government $35 million under the penalty for 2015. The tax hits middle and lower income Americans hardest...

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on October 29, 2017

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Franken, Durenberger take partisan jabs in call for bipartisan health care bill

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

In a commentary published in the Star Tribune, former Sen. Dave Durenberger and Sen. Al Franken urge Congress to pass a bipartisan health care bill sponsored by Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray. It's hard to take their call for bipartisanship seriously when they themselves level unfair partisan jabs at Republicans and President Trump. Instead of discussing partisanship from both sides, they lay blame only on Republicans who,"ever since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, ...

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on October 14, 2017

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Attorney General Swanson Sues to Force Trump Administration to Break the Law

Written by John Hinderaker

in Healthcare

The Star Tribune reports that Minnesota's Attorney General, Lori Swanson, will join several other states in suing to try to force the Trump administration to resume making "cost-sharing reduction" payments to health insurance companies. Trump announced yesterday that such payments would cease. Completely absent from the Strib's reporting is the reason why the Trump administration is suspending CSR payments: they are illegal, because Congress has not appropriated money to fund them. In fact, a federal court has already ruled that the CSR payments that were made by the Obama administration were unconstitutional. Last May, in U.S. House of Representatives v. Burwell,...

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on October 12, 2017

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Trump signs executive order to begin replacing Obamacare with better health care choices

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

After repeated efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare in Congress, President Trump signed an executive order today directing federal agencies to take specific steps to give Americans more and better health care choices. In just three short years, Obamacare has severely damaged health insurance markets across the country, leaving some markets on the brink of total collapse. Going into 2018, consumers will have access to just one health carrier in nearly half of the counties across America. In many cases, this sole health carrier does not include local doctors in its network, forcing people to switch doctors and drive long distances...

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on September 14, 2017

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Last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare might just bring moderate and conservative Republicans together

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

Yesterday four Senators—Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Dean Heller, and Ron Johnson—released the latest bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Like every other bill, it only partially repeals Obamacare because it aims to satisfy the Senate’s reconciliation process, which allows a bill to be passed by a bare majority and avoid a filibuster. As such, the bill can only include budget provisions related to revenue and spending. The reconciliation process also puts a severe time constraint on the bill’s passage because, according to the Senate parliamentarian, the current reconciliation instructions expire September 30—the end of the federal fiscal year. Once that time expires, it’s...

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on August 04, 2017

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Minnesota’s reinsurance program helps calm health care rates

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

Premiums have stabilized in the individual market, thanks to a $542 million subsidy, but legislators still have more work to do. This op-ed originally appeared in the Star Tribune on August 4, 2017 This week, Minnesotans subject to three years of spiking health insurance premiums on the individual market got their first bit of good news. Rates won’t be spiking again in 2018, according to preliminary health insurance rate information released by the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Proposed average changes range from a 14.5 percent reduction to an 11.4 percent increase across the four major health plans. Every plan projects that at least...

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on July 20, 2017

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Efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare still moving forward after Senate meets with Trump

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

Earlier this week, the media quickly declared that congressional efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare had collapsed. We've previously heard reports declaring repeal efforts dead back in March when Speaker Paul Ryan found he didn’t yet have the votes to pass a bill. Yet Ryan eventually brought enough Republicans together. I remain optimistic that Republicans will eventually come together and finally deliver on their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. That’s because I’ve always thought it would be impossible for Republicans to ignore the severe upheaval happening in individual health insurance markets across the country, all a result of Obamacare. The...

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on July 14, 2017

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Insurance choices dwindling in counties across America

Written by Peter Nelson

in Healthcare

Yesterday I noted news released this week from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that shows only half the insurers that offered coverage on Obamacare exchanges in 2016 plan to participate in 2018. That's a dramatic drop in choice for consumers in just two short years. CMS also released an updated map this week depicting the number of health insurer carrier choices available in each county. The yellow portions in the map below represents the 1,334 counties in America—42.47 percent of all counties—in which people have only one carrier option, meaning they they have no choice. For some counties, the problem...

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