Minnesota Health Insurance

HHS has granted Minnesota a waiver to allow the state to continue providing SCHIP coverage for some parents through June 2011, according to Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), the AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

The Bush administration has opposed the use of SCHIP funds for adults, but under the waiver the state will use SCHIP funds to cover kids and use Medicaid to cover about 18,000 parents, according to the AP/Pioneer Press. Without the waiver, the state would have lost up to $130 million in federal matching funds over the next three years (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/6).

Spending by private health plans in Minnesota increased by 4.3% from 2006 to 2007, the lowest growth rate since 1997, according to a report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Health, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. According to Julie Sonier, director of the department's health economics program, "It is possible" that part of the slower growth in spending resulted from state efforts to reduce wasteful and inefficient health care and prevent chronic diseases (Olson, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 10/1).

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) have introduced bills to suspend a proposed federal Medicaid rule that would reduce funding for the state's MinnesotaCare program and that potentially could cut up to 18,000 low- and middle-income beneficiaries from the program, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The rule, which was scheduled to take effect on Sept. 10, would have affected 17,000 adults with incomes between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level, and 1,000 parents with children ages 19 and 20.