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S.F. No. 33 creates the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. It also repeals the early expansion of the medical assistance program for single adults without children and reinstates the general assistance medical care program.
Section 1 (1.06) establishes the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.
Subdivision 1 states that this section may be cited as the “Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.”
Subdivision 2 defines the following terms: "health care service," "mode of securing," and "penalty."
Subdivision 3, paragraph (a), states as public policy that the power to require or regulate a person’s choice of in the mode of securing health care services or to impose a penalty related to that choice is not found in the U.S. Constitution and that the state hereby exercises its sovereign power to declare the right of all persons residing in the state in choosing the mode of securing health care services.
Paragraph (b) declares that as a public policy of the state of Minnesota every resident is free to choose or decline to choose any mode of securing health care services without penalty or threat of penalty.
Paragraph (c) states that this public policy is not to be applied to impair any right of contract related to the provision of health care services to any person or group.
Subdivision 4 states that no public official, employee, or agent of the state or any of its political subdivisions shall act to impose, collect, enforce, or effectuate any penalty that violates the public policy set forth in this section. This subdivision also requires the Attorney General to take any action as provided in this section or in Minnesota Statutes, section 8.31, to defend or prosecute the rights protected under this section.
Section 2 (8.31, subdivision 1) requires the Attorney General to seek injunctive and any other appropriate relief to preserve the rights and property of the residents of the state and to defend the state’s officials, employees, and agents in the event that there is a law or regulation that violates the public policy as set forth in the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. This section also requires the Attorney General to seek injunctive and any other appropriate relief in the event that any law or regulation that violates the public policy of the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act is enacted without adequate federal funding to the state to ensure affordable health care coverage is available to the residents of the state.
Section 3 (8.31, subdivision 3a) states that any person injured by a violation of the public policy in section 1.06 may bring a civil action and recover damages, cost and disbursements, and other equitable relief as determined by the court. This section also states that an action brought under this section for a violation of section 1.06 is in the public interest.
Sections 4 to 7 repeal appropriations from the 2010 session associated with the early medical assistance expansion.
Section 8 repeals the early expansion of medical assistance for single adults without children with family income up to 75 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. This section also continues the general assistance medical care program as it is currently being delivered.
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