Minnesota Regulations & Mandates

• At 60, Minnesota ranks first in the nation with the highest number of mandates. (Source: Council for Affordable Health Insurance.)

• The state of Minnesota imposes five different health care taxes, adding 2 to 6 percent to the cost of coverage depending on the type of plan. The premium tax burden is borne disproportionately by smaller employers and individual policy holders, because most larger employers are exempt from state taxes under the federal ERISA law. (See table below.)

Minnesota Health Care Taxes (for 2005)	Tax Rate
Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA) premium assessment (subsidizes the MCHA high-risk plan for uninsurable Minnesotans)	1.97%
Insurance premium tax (paid by health insurance companies but not HMOs)	2.00%
Medicaid HMO surcharge (raises revenue for the General Fund)	0.60%
MinnesotaCare (MnCare) premium tax on HMOs (raises revenue for the MnCare program for uninsured Minnesotans)	1.00%
MnCare provider tax (raises revenue for the MnCare program)	2.00%

• Because they are enrolled in federally regulated ERISA self-insured plans, more than 40 percent of all insured Minnesotans are exempt from state health care mandates.

• In 2005, Minnesotans in the fully insured market paid nearly $195 million in health care taxes and assessments.

Minnesota Health Care Access