Preferred One – the company chosen by about three of five people that were able to actually enroll in MNSure in the past year – is bailing out of Minnesota’s troubled health insurance exchange.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, [MNSure CEO Scott] Leitz said he is disappointed with the decision but Minnesotans will still have other options for health insurance through MNsure.
“We level the playing field for consumers. We provide options so Minnesotans can make wise choices,” he said. “We anticipated some bumps along the way, and we’re still seeing some of those bumps.”
He’s half right. MNSure – like Obamacare – removes actual choice.
But the bumps? Those are real.
This is a huge hit for MNSure (emphasis added):
As of Aug. 6, Preferred One had 59 percent of the individual market MNsure enrollees. Blue Cross Blue Shield was a distant second at 23 percent, with HealthPartners, Medica and UCare much further back.
Preferred One got such a large share, because they had the lowest rates of the five insurance companies in the program.
And I’m going to hazard a guess that the bulk of Preferred One’s customers were the ones who were getting the lowest subsidies – i.e. the ones that MNSure was counting on to pay the bills for the subsidized, high-risk customers.
It’s possible this could signal big rate increases to be unveiled in early October, and that could have a significant impact on the elections.
“One of the big land mines looking out over the campaign will be when MNsure announces its new rates for health insurance premiums,” University of Minnesota political expert Larry Jacobs said. “If those go up by 10 percent, some have even suggested 15 percent, then that could really shake up this election.”
So let’s get this straight: because of Democrat/DFL medding in healthcare, you can’t keep your doctor, but your rates will skyrocket.
Just wanna make sure we’re clear on this.
Of course, since there are DFLers involved, “clarity” will be hard to come by:
State Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Minn., also commented in a statement saying in part, “MNsure is a marketplace where consumers can compare and shop for quality health insurance. It is no different than Target or Cub Foods in that some products will come and go. Preferred One may be leaving, but MNsure still has great products.”
Of course, that’s lunacy. MNSure would be like “Target or Cub” if the state made it illegal to shop at Aldi, and taxed you extra for shopping at Kowalski’s.
Oh, yeah – and if the state paid low-income people to shop there, maybe:
Anyone who has PreferredOne through MNsure can still directly renew through the company, but they won’t get the government subsidy. To get the subsidy, they will have to choose a different insurance plan starting Nov. 15.
This is what the DFL hath wrought.
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