Many Minnesota residents are learning that taxes are being assessed against their estates to recover the cost of medical coverage through Obamacare from when they were alive.
"In finding this out, it's really blindsided us," Scott Killerud, a farmer in northern Minnesota, told
The Duluth News Tribune.
Killerud learned that coverage for his wife, Ellen, 55, through MNsure — the North Star State's Obamacare program — would cost $11,000 against their estate.
They signed up for coverage in 2014. He does not yet qualify for coverage.
"You don't have a choice," Killerud said. "If you qualify off the website … whatever it is you qualify for is what you must buy if you're going to play the game."
Under Obamacare programs administered by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the state may provide qualifying residents with free or low-cost medical care while they are alive — but liens have long been used to recover some or all of those costs after recipients die, the News Tribune reports.
State officials said that residents should be aware of such rules.
"We're certainly very sympathetic to folks who are not aware of how the program works," Nathan Moracco, assistant DHS commissioner, told the newspaper. "But, as part of the application process, this information is in there."
For the Killeruds, they quit the state's program and have found private insurance: a $333 monthly premium with a $15,000 deductible.
"We just sent them a check, our first premium, and we haven't gotten any paperwork back regarding that, so I hope it's legit," he said.
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