Minn. lawmakers set to resume health insurance exchange fight

Gov. Mark Dayton says his administration may be unable to build an exchange without legislative approval. But the Republican-controlled legislature is split over whether to support implementation of that provision of the health care law.

Minnesota Public Radio: Lawmakers To Resume Debate Over Health Exchange
The debate over a key part of the federal health care overhaul heats up again at the state capitol. GOP Sen. David W. Hann opposes the health care law and will hold a committee hearing Tuesday morning to discuss insurance exchanges. The exchanges are online marketplaces to allow consumers and small businesses buy health insurance based on detailed comparisons of competing plans (Stawicki, 1/31).

Minnesota Public Radio: DFLer To Introduce State Health Insurance Exchange Bill
A DFL state lawmaker from Inver Grove Heights says he'll introduce legislation to establish one of the central parts of the federal health care law: a state insurance exchange. An exchange is an Expedia.com-like marketplace where consumers and small businesses will be able to compare and buy health insurance policies. Rep. Joe Atkins said he'll author a bill based on recommendations from a health insurance task force that's been meeting for about the past two months. A bill to create an exchange failed last session but Atkins said he's not deterred (Stawicki, 1/30).

(St. Paul) Pioneer Press: Dayton: Health Exchanges May Need Legislative Approval Before He Can Implement
Gov. Mark Dayton said Monday that his administration probably won't be able to implement a health exchange in Minnesota without an agreement with the Minnesota Legislature.  Republicans, who control both houses of the Legislature, have been split on whether to pass legislation to create a health exchange. So, the Dayton administration has tapped federal grants to fund planning efforts for a state exchange (Snowbeck, 1/30).

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Battle Over How Health Insurance Is Sold In Minnesota Begins
Two DFL legislators on Monday fired the first salvo in the partisan war to shape how upwards of 1 million Minnesotans buy health insurance by 2014. Within a week, said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, and Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, they will offer bills to establish a federally mandated "health care exchange," essentially an online marketplace where individuals, families and small businesses can shop for appropriate insurance coverage. A few hours later, a chief critic of the concept, Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said he and others soon will offer bills to limit what an exchange might do (Wolfe, 1/30).

MinnPost: While GOP Balks, Dayton Moves Ahead With Minnesota Health Exchange
They were for it before they were against it. Back in the 1990s, when the Clinton administration was pushing for massive federal changes in the health care system, angry Republicans countered with a plan they found much more reasonable: Health Care exchanges. But this morning, at a news conference unveiling Minnesota's first step toward such an exchange, Gov. Mark Dayton noted that no legislative Republicans were on the task force that came forward with recommendations for how a health care exchange in the state should work (Grow, 1/30).

MinnPost: GOP Response: Sen. Hann Disputes Dayton/DFL's Health Exchange Plan
Sen. David Hann, the Republican voice of health insurance, disputes that Republicans ever supported something that looks like a health care exchange. He also disputes that Republicans ever were sincerely invited to join the governor's task force to come up with an exchange. And he disputes that Gov. Mark Dayton or DFLers are serious in an attempt to pass an exchange program through this legislative session (Grow, 1/30).