ST. PAUL – Over the last several months, Minnesota’s non-partisan legislative auditor conducted an audit of the MNSure health exchange and shared his findings with members of both the Minnesota House and Senate.
His diagnosis: MNSure has had more failures than achievements.
“It’s truly disappointing to hear officially what many have already suspected – that MNSure has been costly, inefficient, and failed to meet the expectations of the uninsured,” said State Representative Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne).
Schomacker said many of the problems stem from the way the previous legislature and Governor Dayton chose to implement the program. The most difficult finding was the opportunity cost the legislative auditor found of MNSure - $200 million – which they pointed out could have been better utilized in areas that actually would have directly served uninsured Minnesotans.
Other problems noted by the auditor: 72 percent of MNSure enrollees surveyed said they already had insurance; five percent of those surveyed said they spent at least four hours in the enrollment process; and 75 percent of private enrollees reported having significant technical problems with the website.
Schomacker also noted that Minnesotans were promised 413,000 people would enroll in MNSure. Actual enrollment according to the audit: 49,238.
“With this nonpartisan report it’s clear the current legislature now needs to further examine this program and give it very tight scrutiny this session because what has been done within MNSure has not worked,” Schomacker concluded.