MNsure aims to balance the risk pool by courting the young and healthy.

Premiums remain a huge issue in the debate over Minnesota's health insurance exchange, MNsure. One fear is that it will potentially raise health insurance costs for all Minnesotans. Others argue the opposite, suggesting health costs will flatten as the exchange creates a wider marketplace.

On Thursday night the Minnesota House of Representatives gave final passage to the bill establishing a state-run health-insurance marketplace, leaving the long-disputed measure just a Senate vote away from reaching the governor’s desk.

Legislation to establish a Minnesota health insurance exchange is nearing the end of its grueling committee march. The House version has cleared six committees, with stops at Taxes and Ways and Means still ahead. In the Senate, where the bill has also cleared six committees, it awaits only a stop in Rules and Administration before moving to the floor.

January is generally not the time of year for four-hour committee hearings at the Capitol. But Wednesday’s gathering of the House Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee nearly reached that dubious mark.

Key question: Does Minnesota want to be more like Massachusetts or Utah?