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  1. Feb 2017
    1. With rates up more than 50 percent on average, tax credits via the state’s MNsure exchange will be more important than ever to consumers. An estimated 123,000 state residents won’t qualify for the subsidies, but those who are eligible will see tax credits increase in tandem with premium costs.
    2. Open enrollment starts Tuesday for about 250,000 state residents in the state’s individual market,
    1. Minnesota’s Democratic governor on Wednesday said Obamacare is "no longer affordable to increasing numbers of people" — the latest sign of Democrats' growing concern about the law's rising insurance costs.

      Dayton against

    1. Minnesota is in worse shape because it has an unusually small individual market with an unusually large number of sick people.

      State-level pooling may be at fault

    2. People who qualify for federal tax subsidies will see those subsidies rise along with the premiums, blunting or even negating the increases. These subsidies are available for people earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line: $47,520 for an individual or $97,200 for a family of four.

      Subsidies mitigate or negate increases

    3. That’s because just a few years ago, Minnesota had among the lowest premiums in the nation, so even years of double-digit increases leave Minnesota with the 13th-highest premiums in the country, according to a Pioneer Press analysis.

      Started from extremely low baseline

    1. For some customers, federal subsidies for individuals will cancel out some or all of the premium increases.

      Subsidies Cancel Out Increases

    2. The bulk of the increases run from 36 percent to 67 percent. Figures from one major insurer, Medica, were not immediately available Thursday, but a Department of Commerce spokesperson said Medica increases were around 57 percent.

      From 36% to 67%

    3. Insurers are asking to raise premiums by an average of more than 50 percent for customers on Minnesota’s individual insurance market.

      Insurers asked to raise premiums by over 50%

    4. Insurers are asking to raise premiums by an average of more than 50 percent for customers on Minnesota’s individual insurance market.