No Health Changes For Minnesota Public Employees

ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Minnesota has had no discussion of moving state government workers onto the state's new health insurance exchange, said John Pollard, legislative and communications director for Minnesota Management and Budget.

"No one that I know of has proposed or asked about doing this," Pollard said.

And Pollard is well positioned to know. His agency puts together the governor's budget and oversees state government employee insurance programs. It also is overseeing the establishment of Minnesota's health care exchange, which has been dubbed MNsure. And his job puts him in frequent contact with key legislators.

Minnesota's State Employee Group Insurance Program has about 50,000 state and other public employees in its pool, including workers in executive branch agencies, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, the judiciary and the Legislature, he said. It covers about 110,000 people after dependents are added in.

"No one has talked about moving them into the exchange to shift costs to the feds," Pollard said. "During the exchange debate, the Senate considered an amendment that would require legislators to participate in the exchange, but not all state employees. That's as close as anyone has come to talking about that idea."

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