Minnesota Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Minnesota?

Minnesota is the 5th healthiest state according to the 2012 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Minnesota has the lowest rate of cardiovascular deaths in the nation. The rate has dropped from 270.4 to 195.9 deaths per 100,000 people over the past 10 years.
• More than 87 percent of Minnesota ninth graders go on to complete high school within four years.

The bad news:

• The number of children in poverty has increased by 5.2 percentage points during the past ten years.
• Public health funding decreased by $19 per person over the past five years.

Minnesota's best and worst category rankings:

• Poor Physical Health Days – 1st
• Cardiovascular Deaths – 1st
• Premature Death – 1st
• Binge Drinking – 44th
• Public Health Funding – 48th
• Infectious Disease – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Minnesota.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Minnesota health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Minnesota here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Minnesota, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does Minnesota have a health insurance high risk pool?

Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association
Toll-free 1-866-894-8053

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Minnesota started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Minnesota's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Minnesota

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in Minnesota.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Minnesota can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Minnesota health insurance plan report cards.

Minnesota state government health insurance resources

Office of the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities —  Help for those Minnesotans who have difficulty  with mental health or developmental disability services they have received or need to receive.

Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening – Sage Program —  For eligible women, Sage provides free office visits for breast and cervical exams, as well as a screening mammogram and Pap smears. If one of your screening tests shows a problem, Sage covers many diagnostic services and can often cover treatment, if needed.

Medicaid —  Facts on Minnesota and Medicaid.

Health Reform Minnesota —  A state government site that is the official source for health reform information and the state’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

MinnesotaCare —  Basic health care coverage for low-income Minnesotans through publicly subsidized health care assistance program

Office of Attorney General Lori Swanson —  Health care information and resources for health insurance consumers from the state’s attorney general.

State of Minnesota Department of Health —  The State of Minnesota’s department of health provides information on health insurance.

How did Minnesota officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (4)

• Michele Bachmann
• Chip Cravaack
• John Kline
• Erik Paulsen

Our
Pick

No (4)

• Keith Ellison
• Betty McCollum
• Collin Peterson
• Timothy Walz