Minnesota Lawyer
A bill rolled out Thursday that would repeal the state’s Medical Assistance expansion also takes aim at one of the more legally controversial aspects of the federal health overhaul: the individual mandate requiring every citizen to carry health insurance.
Sen. David Hann, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, introduced a bill dubbed the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act (full text here). Sen. Sean Nienow is a co-author on the legislation.
The legislation has the potential to develop into a political football, although the question of whether the Legislature can block Gov. Mark Dayton’s executive order expanding Medical Assistance is an open one, let alone challenge federal law. The provision that would repeal the MA expansion is a direct challenge to a key Dayton campaign promise and something that was among the new governor’s first acts in office.
Dozens of states have moved to challenge the federal health law in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, whether through constitutional amendments, non-binding resolutions, statutory changes or lawsuits.
The bill has three main parts: the MA expansion repeal, a provision blocking the individual mandate and a provision that seeks to compel the state’s attorney general to seek to block the individual mandate as well.
For now, no committee hearings have been scheduled for the bill, although it has been referred to Hann’s own committee in the Senate. There’s currently no House companion bill on file.
