Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he regrets that Republicans have used his criticisms of Obamacare to hammer Democrats over the healthcare law.
“I regret that my statement was wrongly used against Democratic candidates in Minnesota and elsewhere,” the Democratic governor said in a statement issued Friday.
After Minnesota approved marketplace rate hikes of more than 50 percent, Dayton had said the Affordable Care Act is “no longer affordable for increasing numbers of people.”
“It’s got some serious blemishes right now and serious deficiencies,” he said Oct. 12.
Dayton qualified those criticisms on Friday, saying his concerns were directed only at the 2 percent of Minnesota residents who get health insurance through the state’s marketplace and don’t qualify for subsidies to help pay for it. The rest of Minnesota residents get coverage through their employer, Medicare, Medicaid or MinnesotaCare or they qualify for marketplace subsidies to blunt the cost of spiking premiums, he noted.
“Minnesotans, who receive their health insurance through their employers, Medicare, Medicaid or MinnesotaCare, need not worry about the large rate increases, which have been receiving so much recent publicity,” Dayton said.
He urged state lawmakers to find a solution for about 120,000 Minnesota residents who buy marketplace plans but aren’t eligible for subsidies, suggesting that they use $313 million from the state’s rainy day fund to provide assistance to those enrollees.
Republicans, always on the lookout for criticisms of President Obama’s healthcare law, had jumped on Dayton’s comments as evidence that even some Democrats are dismayed by the increasing premiums and insurer exits. The Minnesota Republican Party had featured the quote in television ads and mail pieces attacking Democratic candidates running for Congress and the state legislature.
