A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers has unveiled preliminary plans for the state health insurance exchange that will be a key piece of carrying out the federal health-care overhaul.
 
At a Capitol news conference on Wednesday, lawmakers said they expect about 1.2 million Minnesotans - or one out of five - to obtain health care through the exchange. In broad terms, the exchange is an online marketplace that will offer the uninsured an opportunity to compare and shop for private coverage.
 
DFL State Senator Tom Huntley, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Finance Committee, says this will be the most important moment in health care in Minnesota since Medicare and Medicaid were introduced in 1965.

Lawmakers plan to start hearings on Minnesota's proposal next week. Enrollment in the exchange is targeted to start on October 1st of this year.