Axios Live: Local policymakers aim to improve health care access for Minnesotans

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Containing rising health care costs is critical to ensure access and relieve the particularly hard burden on small businesses and the self-employed, Minnesota policymakers said at a Jan. 8 Axios Live event.

Why it matters: Federal funding shifts and rising coverage costs are increasing pressure on policymakers to address health care at the local level.

Axios' Mike Allen and Torey Van Oot spoke with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) and Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) at the event, which was sponsored by UnitedHealth Group.

What they're saying: "Core to public health and the health of people is access to coverage, and we are watching now a Congress with this president really undoing decades worth of work to make sure people have access to coverage," Murphy said.

• "It is the providers in the system itself that are going to come apart because we are seeing such a loss of funding over the next decade to our health care system," Murphy said.
• "The same thing is true for the individual market and the subsidies," she said, adding that Congress should consider funding those subsidies.
• "It's keeping people who are at the upper end of a subsidy in health care, so people who are likely self-employed, entrepreneurs … that creative part of our economy, they're going to lose their access too and pay way more for their health care."

State of play: Employers are also shouldering rapidly rising employee health care coverage costs, with small business owners especially feeling the strain, Demuth said, adding that she is a small business owner herself.

• "As we've watched prices increase, I think the legislature's role is to partner and to look at different data as it comes forward and how can we contain costs — but make sure that people, Minnesotans in general, have access and the health care that they so desperately need," Demuth said.

By the numbers: New data from the United Health Foundation's annual America's Health Rankings report showed a 16% increase in cancer screenings in Minnesota from 2022 to 2024, which "is an excellent sign for the people of our state," Demuth said.

Yes, but: People living in Minnesota's more rural areas can face challenges accessing regular check-ups and preventative care like screenings. "That's really what I hear though, is people need that access across the state in an easy manner," Demuth added.

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, UnitedHealth Group executive vice president and chief medical officer Margaret-Mary Wilson explained how United Health Foundation's America's Health Rankings report uses masses of data to highlight health care trends across America.

• Reductions in premature and drug deaths and increases in cancer screenings and mental health providers topped the key findings this year, Wilson said.
• "A significant opportunity though that the data reveals is the increasing rates of multiple chronic conditions," or people with three or more chronic conditions, Wilson said.