The Democrats' health insurance exchange, known as MNsure, opens for enrollment on Oct. 1. We are not supporters of Obamacare (which required an exchange), and we were not supportive of how MNsure was implemented by the Democrats in the last legislative session. But it's the law.
Our job as legislators and members of the MNsure Oversight Committee is to be stewards of your tax dollars, to look out for your privacy and to make sure the law protects people using the exchange.
MNsure has gotten off to a rough start. It already has spent $150 million building an information-technology infrastructure and a website, yet not a single dollar has gone to medication for seniors, checkups for kids or preventive care for women.
MNsure also is spending almost $5 million in outreach grants — some of which may go to a "trusted community partner" who was recently arrested for wielding a shotgun at a sheriff's deputy in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, no background checks were in place at MNsure for outreach partners who will work with vulnerable adults, children and seniors.
MNsure also spent $9 million on a controversial advertising campaign featuring Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The exchange also has a payroll with a total cost of more than $11 million a year, and its executive director is making more than Gov. Mark Dayton.
Members of the MNsure Oversight Committee also have raised a number of concerns about data privacy and how MNsure would ensure the security of sensitive, personal information that Minnesotans will share on the website to sign up for health insurance.
We both asked questions relating to this at the latest hearing, and the answers supplied by MNsure executives made it clear that our concerns were legitimate. The data security systems put in place by MNsure are not fully tested nor adequate to guarantee the security of private data for the individuals who enroll.
Many other questions went unanswered.
