Minnesota

OPINION EXCHANGE | Health care in Minnesota: Ensure competition in the insurance market

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2024

OPINION EXCHANGE | Health care in Minnesota: Ensure competition in the insurance market

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Like you, I’m continuously shocked by skyrocketing prices, whether in the checkout line at the grocery store or at my kitchen table, paying monthly household bills. So, it didn’t surprise me to recently read that since enactment of the so-called Affordable Care Act, health care spending per Minnesotan has surged nearly 27% between 2013 and 2021. I know this from personal experience: Before enactment of the ACA, my once affordable monthly health care premium has doubled in less than 10 years.

And while much of the attention has focused on how much consumers spend each month to keep our families fully insured and healthy, not much attention has been paid to a very disturbing trend happening throughout greater Minnesota. Many of our rural hospitals are suffering. They are encountering a grim financial crisis and, as a result, many are forced to reduce much-needed services to those they serve or close their doors entirely.

Since 2005, six hospitals in greater Minnesota have closed their doors. Many others, such as the Fosston hospital in rural Polk County, recently announced that they must curtail some services provided at that 25-bed critical access hospital. That hospital has been operating for over a century in northwest Minnesota. And most recently, the New Prague hospital announced that it will no longer be providing labor and delivery services. Expectant mothers will need to travel one hour away to Mankato to find a hospital providing services that were until recently in their own backyards.

If no policy changes are enacted, the situation throughout greater Minnesota could get much, much worse: 42% of our rural hospitals have experienced losses in providing patient services, which undermines the hospital’s bottom line. This increases the likelihood of curtailing what services these hospitals will provide in the future or shutting their doors permanently.

The closure of a rural hospital can have a devastating negative impact on the communities it serves. Researchers at the University of Washington found that populations served by rural hospitals experienced mortality rate increases of 5.9% after closures, likely due in part to increased travel times for appointments or during health emergencies, or from patients forgoing medical appointments and/or health care providers leaving these communities.

Why is this crisis happening in our rural areas? A likely reason is that we have a broken health insurance market in Minnesota. Three insurers control 94% of the group market in the state. As a result, these insurance companies are profiting while many Minnesotans struggle with high insurance premiums, sky-high deductibles or worse — they have decided to forgo health insurance entirely. And while consumers struggle, their local hospitals are forced to contend with government and private insurance reimbursements that increasingly fail to cover even the minimum costs of patient treatment.

And despite paying more for health insurance, many consumers are getting less. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that “nearly 17 percent of in-network claims were denied in 2021.” One major insurer was even found to be consistently underpaying reimbursements and inappropriately denying coverages, leaving hospitals to struggle with their own costs of care to patients. Considering the fact that many of our state’s rural residents are aging and live across a vast area without nearby local hospitals, we have a genuine health care crisis in the making.

Minnesota’s health care ecosystem is clearly out of balance. Progressives on the left are seizing this opportunity to push for a European-style single-payer health care system. This radical solution will only make matters worse for those in greater Minnesota who already have to drive great distances to access care: Single-payer systems famously exacerbate access to treatment, and often provide second-rate treatment, making the solution to Minnesota’s existing problem even worse.

And yet policymakers are focused on price-fixing in health care rather than problem-fixing.

Across the state, more and more of us struggle with the costs of care, have less insurance coverage than a decade ago, and hospitals can’t afford to keep the lights on and doors open due to low government and private insurance reimbursement rates.

Policymakers would be wise to focus on the biggest looming crisis facing Minnesotans: We need swift and meaningful action that will encourage competition in the insurance market that will ensure proper funding for hospitals and provide genuine health insurance choices throughout the state. Without these basic reforms, our broken insurance market will likely get sicker and more and more Minnesotans will be forced to make the worst choice: forgoing health care altogether.

Annette Meeks is CEO of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.

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Minnesota

Minnesota’s oldest operating theater is in danger of closing it’s doors

Published

4 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Minnesota’s oldest operating theater is in danger of closing it’s doors

One of the oldest operating theaters in the Midwest is in danger of closing its doors for good.

If you’re heading south on Highway 15, Fairmont, Minnesota, is your last gasp before you hit Iowa. It officially became a city in the late 1800s — and not long after, the Opera House was born.

“We are the oldest, operating, continuously operating theater in the state of Minnesota,” said Jane Reiman, a lifelong resident of Fairmont.

When the doors opened in 1901, operas, musicals, plays, and concerts—drew people from across southern Minnesota, and even from Iowa and South Dakota.

“We have done a lot of entertainment over the years.”

The rock band America once performed at the opera house, as did folk legend Arlo Guthrie. In the 1990’s, the opera house even got a visit from Paul McCartney. His family bought seats.

“They came here and sat in the chairs, and now we have plaques on the chairs to memorialize them.”

In 3rd grade Blake Potthoff went to his first performance at the theater, and later, he acted on stage.

“You’ve grown up with this opera house?” asked WCCO’s John Lauritsen.

“Yeah. Absolutely, it’s a part of me even before I became executive director,” said Potthoff.

But like everything else, the theater has aged over time, to the point that it’s going to cost more than $4 million just to keep it running. If they can’t raise the money, the Opera House may have already seen its final curtain call.

“The building is on life support, and we are doing everything we can to make sure we get back to surviving and thriving,” said Potthoff.

Scaffolding is there, just to reinforce the roof; that’s the biggest expense. But the Fairmont community is starting to respond. Grants and donations have raised $1.5 million so far—still short, but a start.

When renovations are complete, they’d also like to maintain the old character of this theater. That includes this hand-cast plaster, which is also 125-years-old.

The chandeliers were installed a decade before the Titanic sank, and they’re hoping to keep those too. For Blake and others, the show has to go on. For the people in the seats, the actors on stage, and for the livelihood of a small town.

“There’s reason to save this building. That $4 million isn’t impossible. Only improbable. And I truly believe it too. I have a history of performing here. And I have two young kids. I want them to perform on stage like I had the opportunity,” said Potthoff.

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Minnesota

Lawmakers demand Keith Ellison resign as Minnesota fraud grilling turns brutal

Published

16 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Lawmakers demand Keith Ellison resign as Minnesota fraud grilling turns brutal

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) called on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to resign during the House Oversight Committee’s hearing on the widespread fraud in Minnesota.

Higgins began his line of questioning by referring to Ellison’s open statement.

“Under Minnesota law, my Office has limited jurisdiction over criminal matters. The only kind of criminal case we can prosecute on our own is Medicaid fraud; any other criminal case must be specifically referred to us by county attorneys or the Governor,” Ellison said in his opening statement.

Higgins stated Ellison said that his office only had the authority to investigate Medicaid fraud, to which Ellison nodded his head in response.

But, Higgins pointed out that was incorrect.

“Under your own law, you have authority if the county district attorney asks you to get involved, or if the governor asks you to get involved, then your office can take the lead on any criminal investigation,” Ellison said.

Ellison remained speechless after Higgins asked him if that his statement was correct.

“So you have the authority to lead your state’s effort to respond to this massive fraud at the state level, from within the health care realm, where government money has been stolen at very, very high levels, unprecedented levels, in your state,” Higgins said.

“Are you leading that effort for the state of Minnesota?”

Ellison replied but his response was not picked up by the microphone.

“You’re addressing it,” Higgins asked. “Are you leading it?”

Ellison responded, “we are leading the effort to prosecute Medicaid fraud.”

“I’m not talking about Medicaid fraud,” Higgins yelled.

“Don’t hide behind that. You have the authority to prosecute anything criminally that the governor asked you to. And this thing is big.”

“I’m giving you an opportunity, sir. Are you leading the criminal investigative effort into this massive fraud across the board in the healthcare spectrum, in the state of Minnesota or not,” Higgins continued.

Ellison replied, saying his office was “following the law,” prompting Higgins to interject.

“You are not leading,” Higgins responded. “You’re not leading. I must say, Mr. Chairman, that the Attorney General of Minnesota should resign.”

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Minnesota

Maddy Kimbrel Named Minnesota’s 2026 Ms. Hockey Winner

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Maddy Kimbrel Named Minnesota’s 2026 Ms. Hockey Winner

Maddy Kimbrel joined an illustrious group of players as Minnesota’s 2026 Ms. Hockey winner. The award is annually given to the best high school women’s hockey player in the state of Minnesota.

The Holy Family forward scored 37 goals and 57 points this season in only 26 games for her school.

She was also an assistant captain for Team USA at the 2026 U-18 World Championships winning gold. It was her second time representing USA at the event.

Kimbrel spent four seasons playing for Orono High before moving to Holy Family this season.

The 17-year-old Mound, Minnesota product is headed to the University of Wisconsin next season.

The other four finalists for the award were Alaina Gentz (Centennial/SLP), Jasmine Hovda (Roseau), Lorelai Nelson (Edina), and Mia Miller (Northfield).

Past winners of the award include current PWHL players such as Taylor Heise (2018), Peyton Hemp (2021), Olivia Mobley (2020), Grace Zumwinkle (2017), and Hannah Brandt (2012), and 2024 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Krissy Wendell-Pohl.

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