Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Legislative News and Views - Rep. Ben Lien (DFL)

Back to profile

Legislative Update - February 23, 2015

Monday, February 23, 2015
Greetings from the House Floor,
 
The Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report last week on MNSure and its implementation and operation in the first year.  The report highlighted five key findings of the health insurance exchange:
 
·         The enrollment website for MNSure was implemented with many technical problems
·         The federal Affordable Care Act imposed an ambitious timeline for states to roll out exchanges with additional late changes in federal rules (this was compounded by action not taken by the Legislature in 2011 and 2012 to establish a state exchange)
·         MNSure staff withheld information from the MNSure board and other important officials pertaining to pre-implementation tests of the enrollment website
·         Enrollment targets were flawed due to an underestimate in the number of people who would sign up for public plans and difficulties existed in tracking how many people signed up for public vs. private plans
·         Customer service, outside of the enrollment website, was inadequate
 
Key recommendations of the report were:
 
·         The Legislature should consider giving the governor authority to appoint the executive of MNSure (instead of the authority lying with the MNSure Board) and making MNSure an advisory body instead of a governing body
·         The Legislature should create a formal governance structure for MNSure’s enrollment system and bring oversight of MNSure under the jurisdiction of the Office of MN.IT Services (MN.IT Services has statutory oversight of information technology for other state agencies and departments)
·         MNSure and DHS should ensure that insurance brokers who enroll customers through MNSure are fairly compensated
·         Improvements to MNSure’s ability to access and analyze customer enrollment data (this primarily applies to folks who enrolled for public plans and people who have to make adjustments to health plans as a result of changes in life circumstances)
 
This report summarized MNSure during its first year of operation.  Since then improvements have been made with a new executive of MNSure, bringing on Deloitte as a consultant to improve operation of the exchange and significant improvements to customer service.  The enrollment website was greatly improved for operation during 2014 and customers did not experience the website lock-ups, lost applications or months of delays that happened in 2013.  Also, wait times for customers seeking coverage by phone decreased from an average of over 30 minutes in 2013 to around 3 minutes in 2014.  There is still room for improvement to MNSure, including giving MN.IT Services statutory oversight of the exchange and making certain all entities involved with MNSure are adequately and appropriately sharing information, but things are moving in the right direction. 
 
The report also highlighted the fact that 28% of folks who enrolled in private plans were previously not enrolled at all for health insurance and a majority of people who accessed health care coverage through MNSure were satisfied with their coverage once enrolled.  I think it is important to remember that MNSure was a massive undertaking with limited time for preparation and changing “targets” from the federal government.  I do not mean to make excuses for the operation of MNSure in the first year, but I am confident that going forward the health exchange will serve as a real asset for Minnesotans and stands as a stark contrast to the federal exchange and the problems associated with that program (including the recent Supreme Court case reviewing whether folks accessing private health insurance through the federal exchange are eligible for federal tax credits).  We have the second highest rate of insured in the nation at 95%, the growth in health care costs slowed significantly last year (the highest increase in insurance premiums for Silver Plans, the most purchased level of private health insurance plans through MNSure, in our part of the state increased 2% over the last year compared to increases over the previous decade of 11%-19% annually), MNSure has cost much less than expected to operate as Minnesota has spent $101 million of the $189 million in federal grant dollars for the exchange and MNSure is projected to remain solvent through 2017 (the final year federal grant dollars will be available for the exchange). 
 
Major action on the floor last week was passage of the “Deficiency” Bill.  This bill will assist new security needs at the St. Peter state security hospital as a result of conditional licensing requirements ($10.4 million), reimburse hospitals for precautionary preparations related to Ebola last year ($891,000), help with shortfalls at the Minnesota Zoo ($1.3 million) and fund the Department of Natural Resources for new employee and equipment expenses ($568,000).  The bill also included changes to address the increases Governor Dayton gave to agencies and department heads.  The changes are such that the salary increases will not go into effect until July, 2015 and the Legislature will again have approval authority over future salary increases for agency and department heads. 
 
I worked with GOP members Rep. Kiel (Crookston) and Rep. Backer (Browns Valley) to introduce two bills pertaining to border cities this week.  Rep. Kiel is carrying a bill to provide funding for the Border City Enterprise and Development Zone at $1 million on a biennial, ongoing basis.  This is progress we started in 2013 for the border cities as $1.5 million was appropriated for the program during the last biennium.  The last time an appropriation was made to the Border City Enterprise and Development Zone was 2008.  I think it was important to begin that conversation last session and build momentum for the border cities this session.  The bill was referred to the Greater Minnesota Economic and Workforce Development Committee. 
 
Rep. Backer is carrying a bill to allow the border cities flexibility in regards to the state building code.  This is again progress we started last session for the border cities.  In 2014, I introduced a bill to allow the border cities to adopt building codes that are more in-line with the neighboring North and South Dakota cities (so long as the code adopted in the Minnesota city is no less stringent than the code in North or South Dakota).  We made changes this year so that the bill is limited to one and two family dwellings and townhouses.
 
 
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben