In talking about MNsure in the last week, one of my go-to guys in the health insurance market tried to once again explain the continuing hostility toward MNsure on the part of a large slice of the public as well as many health benefits brokers and others in the market.

It's fundamentally opposition to its very existence and really not criticism of its effectiveness or doubts about the intentions of the people now in charge.

MNsure was created as an online marketplace in Minnesota for those seeking to purchase health insurance who might be eligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. States had the option to proceed with such an exchange or have everyone go to a federal exchange.

For MNsure critics, the issue is that MNsure is an artificial market, created by the state, and people who are eligible for subsidies for their health insurance costs have no choice but to use it.

They say there had to have been a better way, leaning on the private sector, to achieve the policy goal of enabling a subsidy to reduce the number of uninsured people.

As my expert pointed out, folks eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, usually get an electronic benefit card. They can take that into Target, Cub or Coborn's to shop for groceries.

Imagine, he said, if the MNsure model came to food, and the state made everybody eligible for SNAP go to MNgrocer.

There would be an uproar, and not just because it's a grocery store located in an industrial area of St. Paul that's not easy to reach from public transit, or it may not have fresh milk that day.

The irritating part would be that participants on their way to MNgrocer would pass a Target or Cub that is perfectly able to meet their needs – with fresh milk that's competitively priced.