Jeff Johnson, the Republican nominee for governor, expanded his attack on Gov. Mark Dayton's record on health insurance and management of MNSure, the state's troubled health insurance exchange.
He appeared at Mack Engineering -- a small Minneapolis manufacturing company of machined components for companies such as John Deere and Honeywell – where co-owner Jennifer Salisbury said her company was experiencing skyrocketing health insurance premiums for the company and its 28 employees.
The company is an example of a small group insurance plan that is not in compliance with Obamacare because it does not meet mandated coverage requirements that are designed to give every person an adequate health plan. The Obama administration offered states more time to get small group plans in compliance, but Minnesota declined so that all employers would be treated the same, rather than having some in compliance and others not. Currently, 75 percent of small group plans are Obamacare-compliant.
Johnson said that by declining the extra time, Dayton had caused undue hardship on small businesses such as Mack Engineering.
"This is another example of Gov. Dayton hurting small businesses and their employees," he said. "He wouldn't stand up for the Mack Engineerings of Minnesota."
Jeremy Drucker, a spokesman for Dayton's re-election campaign, replied in a statement: "What Commissioner Johnson is proposing is to penalize the majority of Minnesota companies who are now providing improved health care coverage for their employees. They would be socked with higher insurance costs if the minority of employers…were allowed to continue to offer substandard plans."
Drucker added that the cost increases cited by Johnson are due to improvements, such as requiring more comprehensive coverage and no longer allowing disqualification for pre-existing conditions.
Anne O'Connor, a spokeswoman for the Commerce Department, said an analysis showed that continued noncompliance would increase costs for groups in compliance between 6 and 10 percent. That's because the non-compliant plans would sweep up the healthiest, cheapest customers, thereby increasing costs for everyone else.
