2012 Jobs Now Tax Credit

2012 $500 million bonding bill

As the State was coming out of the worst recession in decades if not ever, he voted against a bill that would have created 14,000 jobs by funding improvements to roads and bridges (remember the one that collapsed?), regional economic development projects and invested in our colleges and universities.

In 2011, he voted to cut 30,000 Minnesota jobs.

•  6,500 jobs (SF1047, HJP 2094)

•  20,968 jobs (SF760, HJP 2128)

•  1,400 jobs (HF1101, HJP 1628)

•  232 jobs (SF859, HJP 1709)

•  754 jobs 9sf887, HJP 2068)

•  1,735 jobs (HF42, HJP 1279)

•  608 jobs (HF1140, HJP 1228)

•  194 jobs (HF1010, HJP 1619)

State spending has gone up over 12%. This equals $2,900 per Minnesota family.

Sources:

(1) MN2020 — 2013 Budget Replaces Small Portion of Past Cuts

(2) MN2020 — General Fund Expenditure

(3) MN2020 — Smart Use of Surplus – You

(3) Minnesota Senate Overall Budget Balance

A lavish Senate Office Building was approved at a cost of $89 million. This money could be better spent on employing 1,474 teachers, 2,427 paramedics, or filling 3.6 million potholes.

•  This statement is totally false.

•  The Minnesota Legislature appropriated $3 million in General Fund dollars for the public financing of a new Office Building and the House later reduced its 30-year, projected cost to $77 million. (1)

•  Renting space outside of the Capitol complex would require a “convention center-type” accommodation to hold all senators.  In the short term, renting space could cost up to $32.5 million, but over 30 years it could cost up to $220 million [apples to apples]. (1)

•  None of the items listed by Stensrud can be purchased over 30 years except for potholes (which would be far slower than the $11 million in pothole relief that the Legislature ACTUALLY passed this year). (2)

•  None of the amenities Stensrud mentions were included in the project – there are NO reflecting pools or workout facilities.  (3)

Sources:

(1) MinnPost – House Advances Plans for $77 Million Senate Office Building

(2) MinnPost — Transit You Can’t Even Really Call It a Band Aid 

(3) House Session Daily  

50,000 Minnesotans will owe ObamaCare fines for not having health insurance, even if they can’t afford it or were not able to sign up before the deadline.

•  No one knows for certain how many Minnesotans will pay a penalty for failing to take personal responsibility for their health insurance. We won’t know that information until 2014 taxes are paid (in April 2015), during which many of these people may be eligible for exemptions or waivers.

•  A non-partisan research study found that the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) has reduced the number of uninsured Minnesotans by 180,500, a reduction of 41 percent.

•  The number of uninsured Minnesotans (264,000) is at the lowest level in recorded history – 4.9 percent of the population.

•  Although many people did have problems accessing coverage through MNsure due to technical challenges and ALL of them were given extra time, through May 15^th, to enroll in a health plan by simply showing they had tried to obtain coverage.

•  Families with lower incomes (individual under $23,000 or a family of four under $48,000) can access Medicaid or MinnesotaCare at any point during the year.

•  The penalty for refusing to buy your family health insurance is about $95 or 1 percent of income – estimated to be about $300 per year for the median Minnesota family.

Sources:

Shadac.org – Minnesota Coverage Report 

MPR – MNsure Retroactive Coverage 

MNsure.orge — MNcare 

Wall Street Journal — Obamacare Penalty to Exceed 95 for Many Americans

MCHA was phased out and families who get sick will have to pay out of pocket for the rest of the year until 2015.

•  MCHA is now closed to new enrollment because Minnesotans now have a much more affordable option through MNsure.

•  The program provided very HIGH COST insurance to about 25,000 very sick Minnesotans prior to the existence MNsure.

•  MCHA was phased out because premiums and deductibles were very expensive (as much as 125 percent above market) and did not qualify for federal tax credits. Individuals had to be denied coverage by an insurance company and then apply for MCHA coverage separately – a lengthy and complex process.

•  Stensrud is ostensibly advocating for continuation of a tax on small businesses – (the funding mechanism for the MCHA program that was phased out) and in doing so, actually opposes a stated 2014 policy handbook priority of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce (e.g., phase out of MCHA).

•  The health care costs of the MCHA population were assessed/taxed back to the entire health insurance industry each year at around the 3% range, costing individuals and businesses $100-$200 million PER YEAR.

•  By contrast, the MNsure premium withhold will cost Minnesotans about $12 million in 2015. 2014-04-16-budget-report and this Minnesota Council of Health Plans fact sheet. 

•  The business community actually complained aggressively about the unfairness of the MCHA assessment in 2012 (PRIOR to enactment of MNsure legislation):

Minnesota Chamber of Commerce July, 2012 Newsletter

Sources:

MCHA and Other Options – MCHA Basic Facts

Minnesota Chamber Executives File

Gov. Dayton won’t release the 2015 MNsure rates before the election.

•  Prior to open enrollment in 2013, the Commerce Department approved health insurance rates on a rolling basis. Companies would make policies effective as soon as they were approved (but anyone could be denied for preexisting conditions). Open enrollment is a new and unique feature of the ACA.

•  Commerce felt it was important to give consumers as much information ahead of time in 2013 for a brand new program.

•  The 2014 open enrollment is different because most people will be shopping for renewal of existing policies, not for a brand new policy in a brand new program. There may be some level of totally new enrollment, but it is likely far lower than it was during 2013.

•  The timing of the rate release is very important for health plans because any rate increase (or decrease), needs to reflect actual health care utilization of current enrollment. The more time that health plans have to put together products based on actual 2014 utilization data (rather than projections), the more accurate the 2015 rates will be for consumers.

•  Even if rate increases do occur for 2015 plans, it’s important to keep the historical perspective. Prior to the ACA in Minnesota, individual insurance premium rates increased on average by 8% per year from 2000 to 2010, and that was WITH denials for preexisting conditions. In some years, rates went up by as much as 16%

Source: 

Minnesota Department of Health Chartbook