Dear Neighbor,
Gov. Mark Dayton reportedly called MNsure a “big gamble” back in 2013. Poor customer service, underperforming enrollment and a lack of sustainability make this floundering program look like a bad roll of the dice with taxpayer dollars.
The nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor issued a scathing first-year report of MNsure this week, saying its “failures outweighed its achievements.” Ouch.
What’s worse, our governor advocating for a MNsure program he said is a “big gamble” or Nancy Pelosi urging passage of Obamacare legislation so that we can find out what’s in it?
Both are unacceptable and taxpayers deserve better.
Dayton and fellow Democrats who had one-party control at the Capitol promised us lower costs and a site that would be “Travelocity for health insurance.” Instead, MNsure has caused headaches and higher costs for families. Democrats who built this program failed to provide adequate measures for accountability, accessibility and affordability. Here is some of what we know about MNsure one year after its launch:
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72% of MNsure enrollees surveyed said they already had insurance.
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MNsure commercial enrollments have missed Democrat projections by 88 percent (49,000 actual enrollments vs. 413,000 promised in the 2013 Fiscal Note).
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MNsure and DHS never publicly corrected an error that underestimated public program enrollment goals by more than 80,000 – allowing them to “meet their goal.”
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58 percent of those survey by the OLA spent at least four hours on the enrollment process
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Among people surveyed who enrolled through MNsure in a qualified health plan, 75 percent reported having “significant” technical problems with the website.
The fact public enrollees greatly outnumber private enrollees is greatly concerning since private plans are supposed to be what makes MNsure sustainable. This is not the case and now Dayton proposes spending even more of our tax dollars on this failing venture in government-run health insurance programs.
House Republicans have put forward plans to bring more of that accountability, accessibility and affordability that Democrats left out when they built MNsure. Others proposals may be forthcoming and I will keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Mark