After two months of failure and hours of help from her broker, Toni Byard navigated Minnesota's glitchy health insurance website, MNsure, and bought coverage on Tuesday.
"So much frustration!" the 63-year-old from Blaine. said "I just want to get back on a plan."
Her experience mirrors the bigger picture reported by MNsure executives at their board meeting Wednesday.
After a nightmarish launch in October, the online exchange is connecting a rising number of sick, self-employed and uninsured Minnesotans to health insurance coverage.
More than 71,000 people applied for insurance on MNsure as of Nov. 30 — up from more than 31,000 at the end of October. Some 48,724 sought coverage from private insurers, and the rest were applying for the state's public programs, MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance.
"More than a doubling has occurred over the past month," said April Todd-Malmlov, MNsure's executive director.
Fewer have taken the next step — completing enrollment and selecting a payment method. That tally is now 24,586 — with the great majority eligible for public programs; only 4,478 people have enrolled in private individual plans.
But the process has not been without headaches, and the higher numbers still leave Minnesota short of its projection that at least 102,800 people would buy private health coverage on MNsure's individual market for 2014.