Late Thursday, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-28 to establish a state health insurance exchange as part of the federal Affordable Care Act. The exchange would allow an estimated 1.3 million Minnesotans to purchase health insurance from
government-qualified health plans.
The proposal is referred next to a Senate-House conference committee and a final vote by the Legislature. Gov. Mark Dayton's signature will be needed to make the exchange law.
A federal health insurance exchange would cover states that don't pass their own exchanges. States face a March 31 deadline.
DFL reaction to Thursday's Senate vote:
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"After 12 hours of robust debate, the Minnesota Senate took a historic step today toward accomplishing honest health care reform by voting to create a
Minnesota-based health insurance exchange," Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said in a statement. "We all share the priority of building a Minnesota-based exchange that works for individual consumers, families, small businesses, and the health care industry as a whole. Tonight we made significant progress toward that goal."
Republican reaction to Thursday's Senate vote:
"This bill does not improve or reform health care, lower costs, help people keep their doctor, or protect people's privacy," Minnesota Senate Republican Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said in a statement. "This partisan DFL bill restricts consumer choices and establishes the principle that ordinary people cannot be trusted to make decisions about their health care."
"There are some very serious questions with this bill," Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, said in the same statement. "This exchange bill establishes an extremely expensive government infrastructure that guarantees the creation of a super-agency with layers of bureaucracy between Minnesotans and their health care."
