Policy

MN GOP upset over Gov’s intention to set up health insurance exchange

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that it has received a $4.2 million […]

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that it has received a $4.2 million federal grant to help in developing the infrastructure for a state health insurance exchange, but this effort is already drawing opposition from local Republican legislators.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires states to set up health insurance exchanges by January 1, 2013 and for them to be operational 12 months later. If states do not, the federal government will come in and set up one for them.

On Monday, Minnesota Public Radio reported that some Republicans are unhappy with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s unilateral decision to move ahead with setting up these exchanges without soliciting Republican input.

“We believe that they do not have the authority and we are going to pursue every means available to us as a Legislature to prevent that from occurring,” said Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. “They should not be taking Minnesota down the path to enacting this law in the way that they’re doing it without the counsel of the Legislature, without the input of the stakeholders in the healthcare community.”

Meanwhile in announcing the receipt of the grant, the state Commerce Department said that it would allow the department to develop a “design of an exchange and to establish an advisory task force to provide guidance on the creation of an exchange in Minnesota.” The department also plans for various healthcare stakeholders to participate in that task force by the end of August.

Minnesota is not the only state where executing President Obama’s healthcare law will prove difficult to enact given Republican opposition and legal challenges the law faces.

According to Stateline.org, only 10 states have enacted legislation so far related to the creation of an healthcare exchange. They are: California, Connecticut, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. In other states like  Indiana, Gov.  Mitch Daniels bypassed the Legislature when he issued an executive order authorizing an exchange.  Georgia’s Nathan Deal and  Alabama’s Robert Bentley have set up exchange study groups, while GOP governors in  Virginia and  North Dakota signed laws establishing their intention to run an exchange.

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