Dear Neighbor,
Congratulations to the people who are working so hard to make the Maslowski Wellness and Research Center become reality. I participated in the facility’s recent groundbreaking and sensed people are really taking pride in this project. The new facility will be a strong asset for our community and the surrounding area. Click here for a Wadena Pioneer Journal article about the groundbreaking event.
In other news, our state’s new government-run health care system, MNsure, is experiencing may of the same problems people are running into with Obamacare: malfunctions, long waiting times, lackluster enrollment figures and more. Here is a brief news video illustrating some of those problems, along with higher prices many face.
I strongly opposed MNsure when it was being hastily created in the Legislature. Unfortunately, it is turning into the costly, ill-advised, flawed expansion of government about which Republicans warned.
Zero Minnesotan have fully enrolled in MNsure since its Oct. 1 launch, with $150 million in taxpayer money having been spent on creating bureaucracy instead of delivering care. And, remember, Obamacare and MNsure are specifically about health insurance, not health care.
A recent Pioneer Press article addressed MNsure’s “murky” enrollment numbers so far, indicating “Insurance companies point out that they haven’t yet received information from MNsure about any of the 406 people who are making plans to pay premiums.” It also remains unclear how many of the people “in the system” are government assistance applicants or private customers.
The plain fact is neither MNsure nor Obamacare were ready for prime time when they took flight. Concerns many of us have regarding top priorities in these two programs remain unanswered. Serious privacy issues exist, there is no guarantee patients can stay with their doctors of choice and costs are as much as 100 percent higher in some parts of the state when compared with current premiums.
Gov. Mark Dayton and the fellow Democrats who created MNsure promised us the program would be self-sustaining, yet Minnesotans are understandably reluctant to enroll. Fewer enrollees would turn into even higher MNsure prices down the road.
Sincerely,
Mark