Like a lot of other states, Minnesota has been slow to implement the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Each state must establish an insurance exchange that will enable individuals to compare and purchase health plans, but our Republican-controlled legislature has been of two minds on authorizing such an exchange. Some Republican lawmakers have a pathological aversion to passing anything that might be interpreted as an endorsement of “Obamacare”, while others are intrigued by the free-market aspects of an exchange. The Dayton administration has done some preliminary development of an exchange, but legislative approval will be needed sooner than later. A DFL legislator will introduce an exchange bill soon, but it probably won’t go anywhere until the Republicans decide if thumbing their noses at the president is worth the risk of ceding control of any exchange to the feds.
