Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

KTSP-TV on Progress of Health Care Bill

STATE UNEMPLOYED HEALTH CARE BILL MOVING AHEAD

KSTP-TV, March 10, 2009

With more people losing their jobs, the number of Minnesotans who don’t have health insurance is also growing—a problem some lawmakers are trying to solve.

Because thousands of people are foregoing health insurance, state Rep. Paul Thissen wants to make the state’s health care program available to laid-off workers automatically.

The plan, which would help the unemployed to have health care while looking for work, passed its first steps to becoming law Monday.

“What we want to do is give them an option at least in that initial time period to get the health care—if we don’t do that, it’s just going to be more expensive for all of us,” Thissen explained.

He believes the plan allows the state’s health care program, Minnesota Care, to cover laid-off workers immediately and bypass the four-month wait the state currently requires.

“So they can get preventative care and keep up to date on everything and if they have an emergency so they can get what they need,” Thissen said.

In order to be considered for the new plan, the unemployed can’t qualify for COBRA. Minnesota Care isn’t free, but costs less than buying insurance from another source.

The plan is temporary, only giving 145 days of coverage. But at a time when the state could potentially cut the health care budget, how will this be paid for? The money would come from tax dollars in the health care access fund, which Thissen said is currently in a surplus.