Minnesota will need to reapply next year for the state innovation waiver supporting its health reinsurance program. The lawmakers most familiar with the issue may no longer be at the Capitol when that work comes due.
All four leaders of the House and Senate commerce committees have announced they are either not seeking re-election or are running for another office.
Rep. Tim O’Driscoll, R-Sartell, said that means years of institutional knowledge will leave with them.
O’Driscoll, co-chair of the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee, estimated the departing leaders hold about 60 to 70 years of combined experience. He said new lawmakers will take over roles tied to a complex health insurance funding program.
The Minnesota Premium Security Plan, also known as the reinsurance program, helps stabilize individual market premiums.
It offsets high-cost claims for insurers and lowers premiums for about 187,000 residents who buy coverage on the individual market. O’Driscoll is sponsoring HF3388, as amended, to extend parts of the reinsurance program. The bill is intended to keep options available for the Legislature in 2027.
If lawmakers do not pass the bill, O’Driscoll said those options disappear next year. He warned that individual market premiums would rise substantially, and lawmakers would hear from constituents if that happened.
The committee laid the bill over Thursday for possible inclusion in an omnibus package. The measure would continue the assessment process beyond 2027 if the Legislature decides to keep the reinsurance program.
Last year, lawmakers passed a commerce policy and budget law extending the program under a waiver from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The law also changed how the program is funded.
Funding will shift from the Health Care Access Fund to an assessment on group health carriers. HF3388 would preserve that structure if lawmakers continue the program.
The bill also directs the Department of Commerce to apply for another waiver by Dec. 31, 2026. That deadline matters because the program depends on federal approval.
Minnesota created the reinsurance program nearly a decade ago to keep individual market coverage more affordable.
O’Driscoll said the market includes high-cost patients, early retirees, people between jobs, and residents with health conditions that keep them from employer-based coverage.
Dan Endresen, senior director of policy and government affairs at the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, said reinsurance lowered premiums by 47% this year. He said the expiration of the federal enhanced premium tax credit makes the program more important for market stability.
