Capitol View: July 10, 2012 Archive

Dayton: MN is moving forward with health insurance exchange

Posted at 7:25 PM on July 10, 2012 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Gov. Dayton sent letters to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and GOP legislative leaders saying his administration is moving forward with creating a state-based health insurance exchange.

"We will seize the historic opportunities to improve the quality and affordability of health care afforded us by new law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, whose constitutionality has now been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court," Dayton wrote to Sebelius.

The Dayton Administration has been working to create the exchange over the past ten months. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month upholding the federal health care law gave supporters more incentive to move forward. The DFL governor's administration has been working to implement the exchange despite protests from Republicans in the Minnesota legislature, who questioned the law's constitutionality.

In a letter to GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers and GOP Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, Dayton said it was their responsibility to create the exchange and invited them to work with his administration.

"In the future, the law will continue to be evaluated and possibly revised. However, we share the responsibility now to prepare to implement it, beginning next year, in the best interests of our citizens," Dayton wrote to Zellers and Senjem.

The state-based health insurance exchange is a key part of the federal health care law. The goal is to create an online marketplace where individuals and businesses can shop for health insurance. The exchanges are supposed to be operating by 2014. If the state doesn't create an exchange, the federal government will create one for the state's residents. Several groups that support Republicans, including Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, are lobbying for lawmakers to create a state-based exchange.

It isn't certain that those lobbying efforts will be successful. GOP House Majority Leader Matt Dean wrote on his blog today that he supports repealing the entire health care law. GOP Sen. David Hann, who chairs the committee that oversees health and human services, told MPR News that he's reluctant to work on the exchange because the law can be repealed if Republicans run the table in the November election.

But Republican Rep. Jim Abeler, says the state should create the exchange. Abeler chairs the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee.

State revenues trending upward but economic growth slows

Posted at 8:30 PM on July 10, 2012 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Minnesota Management and Budget announced today that the 2012 revenues exceed the February forecast by $336 million.

The department's July Economic Update finds that higher-than-predicted income tax receipts are the main driver for the good news.

The higher tax collections are good news for Gov. Dayton and state lawmakers who have to craft a two year budget in January. There is, however, some cause for concern. The update says job growth slowed in the first half of 2012 and "GDP growth is now expected to fall below forecast made earlier this year." That could mean there is an increase in state services like subsidized health insurance.

The update only gauges revenue collections and doesn't account for spending. Minnesota officials won't have a better understanding of the state's budget situation until the next forecast is released in November.

Here's the update:
July Update 2012