ST. PAUL -- A Minnesota family could save 7 percent of health insurance costs a year if allowed to buy insurance in other states, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday in proposing that legislators change law that prohibits such purchases.
He proposed allowing families and businesses to buy insurance from companies in one of 20 states that his administration deems to be the "most effective" at regulating health insurance policies.
Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson said the savings would come both in buying less expensive policies elsewhere and from the three dominant Minnesota insurers lowering their rates to meet new competition.
No state now allows its residents to buy health insurance from out of state.
The proposal was one of three Pawlenty unveiled Tuesday, all of which need approval from a Democratic-controlled Legislature.
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"The governor's efforts to protect HMOs and maintain the status quo on health care ... would not work for the people of Minnesota," said Chairman Brian Melendez of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
But the state House's top health care Democrat generally agreed with the Pawlenty proposals.
Rep. Tom Huntley of Duluth said that he does not support simply allowing Minnesotans to buy insurance from any state. If Minnesota regulators hold other states' insurance policies to the same standards as Minnesota companies, Huntley added, buying from other states might work.
Davis writes for Forum Communications Co., which owns the Herald.
