Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Rep. Scott is delivering on the promise to make health care more affordable. She helped deliver reforms that will put a stop to surprise billing, and double digit increases in the individual insurance market. She has saved Minnesota families millions of dollars.

Rep. Scott also supported a new law allowing for-profit companies to offer health insurance in Minnesota. creating more competition that will drive down costs.

Rep. Scott opposes single-payer or a public option. Taxpayers would be on the hook for $110 million in start up costs alone and millions more in ongoing operating costs. The IT work necessary would take years and the experience with MNSURE and MNLARS demonstrate it is unlikely to work. The Department of Human Services is presently not accurately collecting premiums for traditional Minnesota Care, losing $44 million in two years because they were unable to properly bill current enrollees.

Additionally, because the reimbursement rate to hospitals and clinics for Minnesota Care is so low, it would put many hospitals and clinics out of business, particularly in Greater Minnesota.

Rep. Scott supports new laws that would allow small businesses and self-employed Minnesotans to form associations to qualify for group insurance. A similar law was passed in 2017 allowing farmers to do this.

Other possible reforms she supports would be, eliminating the MNSURE tax (3.5% on every health care premium) and the "sick"tax (2% on every doctor/dentist/hospital visit). Rep. Scott also supports allowing people to pay cash for their prescriptions when the cash price is lower than the "insurance" price.

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