SEN. LIESKE: How we can reduce health-care costs

Friends and neighbors,

Every week when I go to meetings across our district, one topic comes up more than almost any other: the cost of health care. People are worn down by it. They are doing everything right, raising their families and paying their bills, but the costs seem to keep climbing. I know people who are delaying appointments, putting off care, or stretching their prescriptions. Others are taking on medical debt and hoping nothing else goes wrong. Small businesses are stretched to the limit trying to provide coverage for their employees. Seniors tell me they feel punished for getting old.

I talk to people who are searching out brokers because of the massive changes. UCare is one that has decided not to continue here in Minnesota and this has left many seniors searching for new plans. There are patients I have been providing care to for over 10 years who are now scrambling to find insurance to keep all of their providers. Networks are getting harder for providers to work with because each network is setting different contracts; one may be good for chiropractors to be in network, while another may be better for general practitioners or other specialists. It all leads to challenges and confusion picking the right network.

This all comes from real conversations with real people who are struggling. It is a crisis that seems to grow month by month and year by year.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce recently approved painful premium increases for next year. In the individual market, virtually every plan is looking at a double-digit percentage increase. For small businesses, premiums will increase about 14% across the state. These hikes will hit 187,000 Minnesotans who buy coverage on their own and many more who receive insurance through their jobs.

How did it get this bad? Decisions made at the State Capitol keep driving prices higher. Over the last 10 years, lawmakers passed 19 new health-insurance mandates. I know some of these policies sound reasonable when you read about them in newspaper headlines. The problem is the total cost after stacking nearly all these new mandates and costs on top of one another. Minnesota now has the second-highest number of insurance mandates in the country. Each one adds a cost that drives up your monthly premiums.

On top of that, health care has become a tax target. In 2025 alone, the Legislature passed $3.2 billion in new health care taxes and fees. That included a tax on managed care organizations worth more than $549 million over the next four years. There were also $30.5 million in new fees on hospitals and care facilities and a $54 million tax hike on prescription drug revenue. Each of these policy choices makes health care less affordable for regular families.

Seniors are especially feeling the squeeze. The rising cost of care is colliding with shrinking insurance choices. Medicare Advantage plans are disappearing from parts of Minnesota because providers say they cannot afford to operate under the current state policies. Original Medicare is still available, but many seniors liked the simplicity and lower out-of-pocket costs of Medicare Advantage. When plans disappear, it forces seniors to switch doctors and lose coverage they trusted. That is a difficult blow to face.

We also cannot ignore the high price of fraud. Minnesota has lost billions of dollars to fraudulent billing schemes according to the former Acting U.S. Attorney. This is money that could have been used to help people who really need it, or to help make health care more affordable. Instead, it was stolen.

There is a better way forward. One of the first things we can do is review existing insurance mandates and stop passing new mandates. We should target health care taxes for repeal so families and small businesses feel relief. And, of course, stopping fraud should be a top priority so not a single dollar more is stolen from us. I will keep fighting to make it easier by trying to increase options and I hope in the coming years to find a new way to handle health care where the options are plentiful and the mandates are reduced or gone.

I'd love to hear your health care stories and your ideas to lower costs. If you want to share your feedback, please reach out any time at [email protected]. It is a privilege to serve you.

Sincerely,

Senator Bill Lieske