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Capitol View®
Catharine Richert

Snag in bill may muck up health insurance approvals

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A jobs and energy bill that came to the House floor in the final minutes of the 2015 Legislative session appears to leave out a critical chunk of funding: money to support a division of the Department of Commerce that reviews health insurance rates.

The jobs and energy funding bill has earned a reputation in the last few days for being rushed to the finish line. Republicans say House Democrats had time to review the bill. But Democrats say the final bill was assembled so quickly no one knew what was in it.

The Commerce issue concerns six people in the department who make sure proposed health insurance rate changes are justified and meet the requirements of Minnesota law. There are other rate reviewers in the department, but they focus on other insurance products.

The six jobs have been funded by a federal grant until now, in part because of new filing requirements set out by the Affordable Care Act, and Gov. Mark Dayton's budget requested a little more than $1.3 million for the biennium to continue staffing those six essential positions when funding runs out in September.

"The purpose of the budget request was to provide permanent, ongoing funding for this essential rate review function which must follow mandated timelines required under federal and state law," said a Commerce Department spokesman in an email.

But the administration's proposal wasn't adopted, and there's no line-item funding in the bill to keep those six rate analysts on staff.

Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL - Inver Grove Heights, said without money for those positions, the state won't be able to do what the law says it must.

"Without the rate review staff, no rates can get approved. And if rates can't get approved, no [health] insurance can be sold in Minnesota," Atkins said.

House bill sponsor Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, said that the bill provides the department the money it needs to fulfill its obligations under the law. The insurance division overall is getting $6.7 million for the biennium - that's the same amount it got in the last budget cycle - and Garofalo said the department has "flexibility in how it spends state and federal funds."

The Commerce Department said it will likely have to shift funds from another area to keep the jobs.

Garofalo also pointed out that in the final hours of the jobs and energy bill negotiations, the House, Senate and the Governor's office decided to split additional funding three ways. Each had about $16 million to spend, Garofalo said.

"When [the governor's office] had a chunk of money to spent on whatever they wanted, they chose not to fund this," Garofalo said.

Atkins, who is the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, said he's also concerned the bill eliminates health care fraud positions. Atkins said they were also grant funded until now, but there's no line-item funding for those jobs, either.

Atkins said the omissions highlight what he believes was a lack of transparency around the bill's negotiations.

"I had my hand up, and asked the speaker to recognize me. But he was in a bit of a hurry," Atkins said. "We could have fixed the bill, but I guess they weren't interested in fixing the bill."

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said the DFL minority in the House had several hours to review the bill before it came to the House floor late Monday night.

"The minority controls what the tenor of the last day of session looks like," he said. "Obviously, Democrats in the House were trying to delay and run the clock out."

Democrats are encouraging Gov. Mark Dayton to veto the jobs and energy bill for a host of reasons, but Dayton hasn't said if he will.

UPDATE: Dayton spokesman Linden Zakula responded saying Garofalo's comments are “totally not true. The funding was in the Governor’s original budget, and it was in the priority list given to the Senate and the House.”