Governor Dayton and the Democrats (you say DFL, I say Democrats) have announced plans to expand MinnesotaCare, a state program providing health care to individuals making less than 200% of the federal poverty level. The expansion would allow individuals with higher incomes to opt into the system, which will be a state run health plan.
The Democrats claim this will reduce costs. It isn't clear that will be the case. Whatever the merits, this expansion might really happen. Despite it being a terrible idea, I take comfort knowing, the states are the laboratories of democracy. Hopefully, we'll all take note of Minnesota's inevitable failure. But I doubt we will. Indeed, its inevitable failure might be considered a feature, not a bug.
According to Gerald Kominski, Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the public option only makes sense in states where there are only a few providers in the ACA marketplace. So how big is Minnesota's ACA marketplace, MNsure?
4.
Minnesota started out with 5. But insurers, realizing that savings weren't to be found, have left the markets. This is a nationwide phenomena. Only 5% of counties have more than 5 or more plans available. The same thing happened to ACOs in Medicare Reform. We started out with 32. Now there are only 8.
This is deliberate. Democrats want the insurance markets to fail so they can introduce a public option. Remember, Obamacare was designed to fail. MinnesotaCare is designed to fail. When it does, Democrats will demand we do something to fix it. Don't be fooled.
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