We recently interviewed Rep. Tom Emmer (R, Delano) and Twila Brase (Citizens' Council on Health Care) regarding the health care reform measures that have been intoduced by DFL legislators (SF3099 / HF3391). All Minnesotans should watch these interviews to understand how these so-called 'reforms' will ultimately impact the way health care is sold and delivered in Minnesota.

The bills (SF3099 / HF3391) are currently being hurried through the state legislature. Supporters say it will make health insurance more affordable and accessible.  The reality is that these proposals will do neither. Instead, the bills will target smokers, drinkers and people with some extra pounds for state-sponsored lifestyle modification initiatives, create new layers of expensive government bureaucracy and encumber small business owners with costly new administration mandates.

The creation of a proposed Health Insurance Exchange, the centerpiece of the bill (number SF3099), is ostensibly designed to provide to employees of small companies who purchase their own individual health insurance the same tax break as employers receive. In reality, the Exchange will increase the cost of privately-purchased health care by at least 2%, burdening taxpayers with new taxes and fees, and forcing small businesses to become bill collectors for insurance companies with whom they are otherwise unassociated.

The cost of medical services would actually increase under this proposal. Hospitals, other care providers and insurance companies will be billed for the Health Improvement Fund. The fund will seek to collect $40 million from health care providers, the expense of which will naturally be passed on to consumers.

A portion of SF3099 deals with sharing private medical records across multiple agencies and organizations, keeping track of your lifestyle choices, how much you weigh, funding third-party organizations to implement programs to cajole and coerce you into behavior choices preferred by the state, and recruiting as many people as possible into the state’s medical welfare programs (Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare).

The ultimate goal of the bill appears to be to expand the number of people dependent on the state for their medical care.  The bill provides bounties paid to organizations and individuals that recruit new enrollees in the state’s medical welfare programs. Schools will be asked to single-out students who receive free or reduced-rate school lunch as targets for recruitment activities.  If a school is successful in enrolling a student’s family, they will earn a $25 bounty. To entice potential new enrollees, the bill suggests that organizations should "provide an applicant a gift certificate or other incentive upon enrollment."

Once registered into the state system, enrollees will be required to submit to mandatory health and weight screening, and a complete loss of medical privacy.

There is no uninsured crisis in Minnesota. The current rate of uninsured people is estimated at 7.2 percent. Demonstrably, the majority of those uninsured are without coverage by choice. Fifty-four percent of Minnesota’s uninsured are eligible for state assistance, but they choose not to enroll. The rest are eligible for employer group or individual plans, but have decided not to purchase the insurance.

The Insurance Exchange is an expensive solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.  The rest of the plan attempts to put more people on the public dole, while raising taxes and fees, invading patient privacy and restricting individual freedoms.

Government is the problem, not the solution.  Minnesota has the highest number of government-imposed insurance mandates in the country. Instead of allowing insurance companies to offer different products for different people, the goverment has mandated what must be included in every plan, thereby driving up the cost of insurance for everyone.  Goverment has also errected barriers that prevent insurance companies from outside the state to compete for your business.  Everyone knows that when there's competition within a marketplace, costs go down and quality goes up. 

Adding more layers of bureaucracy and regulation won’t solve our health care problems.  It will only exacerbate them. The solution lies in the free market. Offering consumers more choice in personalizing their health coverage plans by eliminating government mandates would immediately reduce the cost of coverage for most Minnesotans. A simple change in our tax code could eliminate the need for complicated plans like the Insurance Exchange by giving everyone the same tax deduction for health care expenditures. This would also help decouple insurance from a person’s employment situation, and make health insurance more portable.

TAKE ACTION: Click here to contact your state legislators now.

Be sure to read Craig Westover's recent columns in the Pioneer Press: The Devil's Not in the Detail, But Sitting in Plain Sight and A Sow's Ear of Corporate Socialism.  Also take a look at It's Universal at Ladies Logic.