Gov. Dayton Issues Statement on Proposed Health Insurance Rates

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 31 -- Gov. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., issued the following statement regarding the proposed rates for Minnesota's individual health insurance market:

"Minnesotans, who buy their health insurance on the Individual Market, are receiving the tremendous news that proposed insurance rates will remain essentially unchanged next year.

"That assumes the federal government will approve our state's new Reinsurance Law, as we have requested.

"I applaud the Minnesota legislators, who worked together to pass this pioneering legislation, which is being shown to cause major reductions in the costs of health insurance next year for many thousands of Minnesotans.

"However, those reductions come at a very high cost to our state's treasury, totaling $543 million over the next two years. We will be hard-pressed to continue to provide those subsidies alone. It is essential that the President and the US Congress act now to share this responsibility in the years ahead."