MNsure extends enrollment deadline to Saturday

MNsure is extending its first open enrollment deadline until Saturday, so shoppers will have more time to buy coverage that starts next month.

The move is not driven by technical problems with the health exchange website, said Scot Leitz, the MNsure chief executive, during a news conference Monday in St. Paul. Individuals can buy policies through the exchange, or directly from health insurance companies. Some of those companies announced over the weekend that they were extending enrollment deadlines beyond Monday for off-exchange policies, so MNsure wanted to match the moves, Leitz said.

"This is driven by the interest that we're seeing in folks wanting to get health insurance coverage, and by the decisions of the health plans to extend the off-exchange deadlines," he said. "This just ensures that the playing field is as level as possible, for as long as possible."

The deadline for purchasing coverage that starts Jan. 1 had originally been Monday. The new deadline will be 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

In recent days, customers have seen increasing wait times at the MNsure call center. On Monday, the average wait time was about 20 minutes, although some reported waiting longer.

Last week, MNsure sent a memo to insurance agents detailing website problems that have affected at least a few hundred shoppers.

But Brian Beutner, the MNsure board chairman, said during the news conference in St. Paul that the experience for consumers remains far superior to last December, when thousands waited hours for help.

Last year, MNsure pushed its December enrollment deadlines back twice because of widespread computer glitches and an overwhelmed call center. There were extensions at other health exchanges across the country, including the federal government's healthcare.gov website.

This year, deadline extensions have been much less frequent. As of Monday evening, only Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota and New York had announced deadline extensions, said Charles Gaba of ACASignUps.net, a website that tracks the performance of the health exchanges.

Minnesota was one of more than a dozen states to launch a health exchange last year to implement the federal Affordable Care Act, which calls on almost all Americans to have insurance or pay a tax penalty. People buying individual policies don't have to use the exchanges, but the government-run marketplaces are the only places to obtain federal tax credits to discount the cost of coverage.

As of Friday, nearly 16,000 people had enrolled in private health plans through MNsure for coverage starting January. The health exchange budget is built on the expectation that 67,000 people will buy coverage through the exchange for 2015 — a target that was reduced earlier this month.

On Monday, MNsure was receiving an average of 30 calls per minute, and anticipated fielding more than 20,000 calls overall for the day. "It's been a busy weekend, and a very busy day so far," Leitz said.

Among the problems last year, health insurers complained they could not get accurate information from MNsure about people who were using the exchange to buy private coverage. That problem has returned this year, although insurers have not yet raised alarms about the situation.

Until MNsure gets accurate information to the health plans, the insurers can't send invoices to customers or provide health plan ID cards, said Eileen Smith, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, a trade group.

"MNsure has to get them accurate and complete information, and that hasn't happened yet as of today," Smith said Monday. "Extending [the deadline], or not extending it, doesn't change that."

MNsure was scheduled to send enrollment information to health plans on Tuesday, said Wendy Wicks, a spokeswoman for UCare, an insurer based in Minneapolis. She said her company has been told it is winning a much larger share of sign-ups this year through MNsure — from less than 1 percent in 2014 to about 19 percent for next year.

"We are poised to send invoices and ID cards before the first of the year depending on when we receive actionable enrollment information from MNsure," Wicks said in a statement.

"We have been in conversations with MNsure and have been given assurances that we will get all of the enrollment data needed in time to ensure that those who enroll by the extended Dec. 20 deadline will have coverage in place for Jan. 1," McManus wrote in an e-mail Monday evening.

About 60 percent of those who currently have commercial policies through MNsure bought coverage from Golden Valley-based PreferredOne. But the company announced this fall it would not return to the exchange, which has created a problem for MNsure.

If PreferredOne subscribers don't actively switch back to the exchange for coverage, they will automatically be renewed into policies outside MNsure.

While the announcement Monday extends the deadline for those seeking coverage that starts in January, shoppers will have options after Dec. 20. Those who buy through MNsure by Jan. 15 will have coverage that starts Feb. 1, while those who purchase by Feb. 15 will have insurance starting in March.