Dear Neighbor,
The Legislative Auditor’s office issued a report regarding MNsure this week and it didn’t paint a pretty picture.
The report indicated MNsure’s failures outweighed its achievements in its first year of operation. MNsure has fallen far beneath enrollment projections. Public enrollments have far outpaced the private enrollments this program relies on to be sustainable. A few notable statistics:
The report indicated MNsure’s failures outweighed its achievements in its first year of operation. MNsure has fallen far beneath enrollment projections. Public enrollments have far outpaced the private enrollments this program relies on to be sustainable. A few notable statistics:
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72 percent of MNsure enrollees surveyed said they already had insurance.
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MNsure commercial enrollments have missed Democrat projections by 88% (49,000 actual enrollments vs. 413,000 promised in the 2013 Fiscal Note).
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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.
This is highly concerning, especially when you remember that despite all these issues, $26,000 in bonuses were paid to MNsure executives in 2013. Gov. Mark Dayton’s new budget proposal includes even more spending to keep MNsure going.
A House bill has been issued to ensure fair access and affordability, while increasing accountability to help get this troubled program on the right track.
In other news, we heard a bill in the Ag. Policy Committee that pertains to biofuels. This is a rapidly growing industry and it is a good idea to encourage investment that would increase the usage of Minnesota products to diminish reliance upon petroleum products. The bill we heard would offer incentives to producers of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals and biomass thermal energy. It passed our committee and moves on to the next step in the process.
In an Education Finance Committee meeting we discussed an increase in pre-Kindergarten funding the governor recommends in his budget proposal. One catch in the proposal is that it is not fully funded, leaving school districts to pick up the balance. This likely would lead to only wealthier districts participating, widening an already problematic achievement gap in our state. I expressed my concern about this to Education Commissioner Brenda Casselius during the meeting.
A column I submitted to area newspapers this week provides an update on Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal for 50-foot buffers around waters. I have been working to get answers to some questions and concerns and wanted to share some information on that subject. In case you missed my column, here’s a link to it at my official legislative website.
I will keep you in the loop as these and other things develop in St. Paul. Until then, hope you stay warm.
Sincerely,
Paul