A day after a key insurance player announced its exit from MNsure, leaders of the state's insurance exchange called the move a normal evolution of a competitive marketplace and laid out plans to improve the upcoming enrollment period for both consumers and brokers.
The MNsure board on Wednesday approved spending up to $4 million to hire 300 customer service workers by Oct. 15, compared with 22 last year. About 175 temporary overflow workers will be hired from an outside vendor to handle basic phone calls, while another 125 MNsure staff will focus on complicated cases and expedite time-consuming manual workarounds that remain in place.
MNsure already has hired about 36 workers to handle so-called life event changes, such as moving, switching jobs, having a baby or getting married.
Such changes proved to be a headache for MNsure, which had hoped to have the process automated by open enrollment. But CEO Scott Leitz told board members Wednesday that it won't happen this year.
About 3,500 consumers with life-event changes remain in limbo, according to MNsure. Insurers have agreed to backdate coverage, but the process has frustrated consumers who are worried about getting left without insurance to cover medical needs.
Leitz said workers continue to "whittle down" the numbers, but officials acknowledged the process remained inefficient and time-consuming.
In light of insurer PreferredOne's decision not to offer products on MNsure in 2015, Leitz said staff will begin a "targeted outreach" to the more than 24,000 enrollees who purchased through the MNsure exchange.
By law, PreferredOne must continue to cover its current consumers if they wish, but rates could increase. Only plans sold on the MNsure website allow eligible consumers to tap into tax credits and other financial assistance that could lower the cost of monthly insurance bills, however.
PreferredOne offered the lowest rates in the nation last year, and as a result signed up nearly 60 percent of the MNsure shoppers. In a letter to MNsure, its CEO Marcus Merz said continuing on MNsure would be "not sustainable."
PreferredOne officials declined again on Wednesday to offer a fuller explanation.
Leitz reiterated that he "fully anticipated" that plans would change from year to year.
"It is a competitive marketplace," he told the board, "and we don't pick winners and losers."
The state plans to release insurance rates and the names of insurers selling products on MNsure in early October.
As the countdown for the Nov. 15 open enrollment period begins, MNsure officials said under-the-hood improvements to the technology are proceeding as planned, though a laundry list of issues remain, according to a Deloitte Consultant's report.
The IT staff is building in more "consumer experience" testing of the system and also is doing more worst-case scenario planning, neither of which happened during the initial launch last year.
Insurance agents and brokers, who were forced to wait in the call center queue along with everyone else having problems, will have a dedicated phone number, e-mail and website.
Board members' offered up various reactions to the updates.
Said Thompson Aderinkomi: "I, for one, don't feel comfortable with where we are," saying he wanted a more detailed project plan.
Said Phil Norrgard: "Last year I was deluded. I thought things were better than they were … I think we're in a better position, but we are in a condensed period."
To which Leitz responded that his goal is "to be better prepared than we were last year, recognizing there will be bumps along the way."
Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335
