Minnesota business and insurance industry advocacy groups may have a point when they say that the state?s mandated health insurance benefits are driving up costs.
Citing the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures lists 49 health insurance mandates in Minnesota: 28 benefits that must be covered, 13 types of health care professionals that need to be covered, and eight types of patients mandated for coverage.
Minnesota has the sixth highest number of health insurance mandates in the country. The top five, in order, are Maryland, Virginia, Texas, California and Connecticut.
So how do the top six states stack up on health insurance premiums?
The Kaiser Family Foundation?s statehealthfacts.org website has employer-based premiums data from 2010. The six states with the most mandates had an average single premium of $4,965. For family premiums, it was $14,166. The six states with the least mandates ? Nebraska, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama and Idaho ? had an average single premium of $4,582 and an average family premium of $12,675.
Minnesota itself had an average single premium of $4,964 and an average family premium $13,903, above the national averages of $4,940 for a single premium and $13,871 for a family premium. Employers in Minnesota on average pay about four-fifths of the premium, with workers contributing for the rest.
The legislators who got the mandates passed over the years in Minnesota might argue, though, that the extra cost is worth it because coverage isn?t being denied.
The Affordable Care Act that Congress passed in 2010 might smooth the situation out anyway, thanks to the creation of online health insurance exchanges that will allow individuals and small business owners to comparison shop for health plans.
The same Web page on the National Conference of State Legislatures site that includes the mandates table also explains that the federal health reform ?requires states to defray the cost of benefits required by state law in excess of essential health benefits for individuals enrolled in any plan offered through an exchange.?
States can get around this by benchmarking the exchanges off one of the following health insurance plans:
- One of the three largest small group plans in the state by enrollment;
- One of the three largest state employee health plans by enrollment;
- One of the three largest federal employee health plan options by enrollment;
- The largest HMO plan offered in the State?s commercial market by enrollment.
Still, the federal health reform might soon smooth out some of Minnesota?s web of health insurance mandates.
Source: http://finance-commerce.com/bizcost/2012/02/do-health-insurance-mandates-equal-higher-premiums/
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