By Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio News

Minnesota’s Commerce Department on Monday will unveil the premiums insurers are seeking for non-group health plans next year.

The rate requests are subject to Commerce Department approval.

Insurers have submitted two sets of rates. The second set factors in the state’s new $540 million reinsurance program. Federal approval of the financial safety net for insurers is still pending in Washington.

“I expect that rates without reinsurance included will increase and Minnesotans need to be prepared for that,” said state Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, chair of the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy committee. “But they also need to know that when reinsurance is factored in, we expect to see a reduction.”

The commerce department predicts the reinsurance program will pull rates down 20 percent from what they would have been otherwise.

Dramatic year-over-year prices increases have been a hallmark of Minnesota’s non-group health insurance market since the Affordable Care Act became law.

Benson said she expects the Trump administration will green-light the reinsurance plan soon. “We have received every indication that Washington is very interested in our 1332 reinsurance market stabilization waiver,” she said. “They expedited Alaska and we believe they’ll expedite our wavier.”