Minnesota Measure Extends Health-Insurance Coverage

By Ellen Flax

In a move that will make health insurance available to thousands of uninsured children and their families, Minnesota lawmakers have adopted a sweeping health-insurance-reform bill.

The measure, signed last week by Gov. Arne Carlson, will enable uninsured state residents who earn up to 275 percent of the federally defined poverty level, or about $37,536 for a family of four, to buy subsidized health insurance from the state.

The program, which will be fully implemented over the next two years, is aimed at the approximately 370,000 Minnesotans, including almost 70,000 children,...