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In her home office, Becky Montpetit opened her laptop and navigated to the state's health insurance marketplace known as MNsure.
It’s open enrollment time, and Montpetit and her husband, who are both self-employed, need to sign up for a health insurance plan for the coming year. They have two kids and want a plan that keeps them with their established providers.
"I like to joke with my friends that I have a Ph.D. in MNsure,” said Montpetit. “There have been so many different scenarios throughout our 10 years of using our purchasing our own health insurance. You just have to really compare everything."
But even though Montpetit has become something of a MNsure expert, finding an affordable plan this year is elusive.
That's because she's losing a valuable federal tax credit adopted in 2021 that made health insurance more affordable to more people. President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates it and the end of the year.
Democrats want to restore it because health insurance deductibles and premiums are getting more and more expensive. Not accounting for the loss of the federal tax credit, premiums for plans available through MNsure are already up 22 percent on average compared to last year.
Republicans argue the tax credit has become too expensive, and their dispute has led to the government shutdown.
For Montpetit, it’s led to some eye-popping health insurance price increases.
"Last year, we received a premium tax credit of $381 for our family a month. That brought our health insurance price down to $1,560 a month for a family of four this year,” she said. “Right now, it looks like the best option for a family is going to be about $2,200 a month."
And that's for one of the most basic plans.
Higher premiums in southern Minnesota
Montpetit is among the roughly 19,000 Minnesotans buying health insurance through MNsure who are at risk of losing that tax credit. And those losses are particularly acute for people living in southern Minnesota. There, insurance premiums are typically higher than in other parts of the state in part because Mayo Clinic, which provides highly specialized care, is the dominant provider.
To underscore her point, Montpetit surfed around and found a similar plan for her family of four that if she lived in Duluth, would only cost $1,600 a month.
MNsure CEO Libby Caulum said the soon to expire tax credit was designed for families like the Montpetits: people who make too much money to qualify for other subsidies, but who don't have access to employer-based health insurance. And she said it’s succeeded in reducing the number of families that are uninsured.
"We have seen record enrollments because of these tax credits. If you look at Minnesota's uninsured rate when these tax credits have been in place, we've dropped to record low uninsured rates,” she said. “These tax credits make a huge difference."
Caulum worries that families who once qualified will now forego coverage.
"When people don't have health insurance, they end up going straight to the emergency room with conditions that maybe could have been treated through their primary care doctor,” she said. “And that puts more pressure, more cost, into the system."
Confusion and concern
Rochester insurance broker Connie Abernathy-Ness said that customers buying plans through MNsure are stunned and confused by the staggering price increases. A client she’d recently spoken to did not know the federal tax credit was about to end.
"She was shocked. So, I don't think a lot of people really realize what could happen to them with their premiums, hyping up,” she said. “I've got a lot of people who probably won't be able to afford it."
Back at her home office, Becky Montpetit said she and her husband may have to dip into their retirement savings to pay for a new plan. They're both considering taking second jobs with health insurance benefits. She said it seems unfair to raise insurance costs on artists, entrepreneurs, and other professionals who venture out and are self-employed.
"It does feel as though we're penalized for seeking a non-traditional career path by having to pay exorbitant health care prices,” she said.
Montpetit has a few more weeks to make a decision. In the meantime, she hopes congressional lawmakers can reach a compromise soon and figure out a way to extend the tax credit.
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