2011 Minnesota Statutes
Chapters 245 - 267 — Public Welfare and Related Activities
Chapter 256L — Minnesotacare
Section 256L.02 — Program Administration

Subdivision 1.Purpose.

The MinnesotaCare program is established to promote access to appropriate health care services to assure healthy children and adults.

Subd. 2.Commissioner's duties.

The commissioner shall establish an office for the state administration of this plan. The plan shall be used to provide covered health services for eligible persons. Payment for these services shall be made to all eligible providers. The commissioner shall adopt rules to administer the MinnesotaCare program. The commissioner shall establish marketing efforts to encourage potentially eligible persons to receive information about the program and about other medical care programs administered or supervised by the Department of Human Services. A toll-free telephone number must be used to provide information about medical programs and to promote access to the covered services.

Subd. 3.Financial management.

(a) The commissioner shall manage spending for the MinnesotaCare program in a manner that maintains a minimum reserve. As part of each state revenue and expenditure forecast, the commissioner must make an assessment of the expected expenditures for the covered services for the remainder of the current biennium and for the following biennium. The estimated expenditure, including the reserve, shall be compared to an estimate of the revenues that will be available in the health care access fund. Based on this comparison, and after consulting with the chairs of the house of representatives Ways and Means Committee and the senate Finance Committee, the commissioner shall, as necessary, make the adjustments specified in paragraph (b) to ensure that expenditures remain within the limits of available revenues for the remainder of the current biennium and for the following biennium. The commissioner shall not hire additional staff using appropriations from the health care access fund until the commissioner of management and budget makes a determination that the adjustments implemented under paragraph (b) are sufficient to allow MinnesotaCare expenditures to remain within the limits of available revenues for the remainder of the current biennium and for the following biennium.

(b) The adjustments the commissioner shall use must be implemented in this order: first, stop enrollment of single adults and households without children; second, upon 45 days' notice, stop coverage of single adults and households without children already enrolled in the MinnesotaCare program; third, upon 90 days' notice, decrease the premium subsidy amounts by ten percent for families with gross annual income above 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines; fourth, upon 90 days' notice, decrease the premium subsidy amounts by ten percent for families with gross annual income at or below 200 percent; and fifth, require applicants to be uninsured for at least six months prior to eligibility in the MinnesotaCare program. If these measures are insufficient to limit the expenditures to the estimated amount of revenue, the commissioner shall further limit enrollment or decrease premium subsidies.

Subd. 4.

[Repealed, 1Sp2001 c 9 art 2 s 76; 2002 c 277 s 31]

History:

1986 c 444; 1987 c 403 art 2 s 63; 1988 c 689 art 2 s 137; 1989 c 282 art 3 s 34; 1992 c 549 art 4 s 3,19; 1993 c 4 s 28; 1993 c 247 art 4 s 11; 1993 c 345 art 9 s 2; 1994 c 625 art 8 s 72; art 13 s 1; 1995 c 234 art 6 s 3; 1997 c 225 art 3 s 3; 1998 c 407 art 5 s 8,9; 1Sp2001 c 5 art 14 s 1; 2009 c 101 art 2 s 109; 1Sp2011 c 9 art 6 s 71