Soothing saxophone tones filled the conference room at Portico Healthnet in St. Paul on a recent morning — not from the PA system, but from the speaker of a mobile phone on hold with MNsure. "Your total wait time may be in excess of 30 minutes," said the message. "We apologize for any inconvenience …"
Chuckles filled the room, but the delay was no laughing matter. With a key deadline looming and the MNsure health insurance website still experiencing technical glitches, agencies that help Minnesotans find a health plan have shifted into high gear.
On Saturday, Portico had turned to a classroom approach, with six adults working on laptops as four helpers looked over their shoulders. "We simply were running out of time and people power to do the one-on-one enrollments," said Rebecca Lozano, a Portico outreach manager.
Trained helpers known as "navigators" were always envisioned as a key enrollment strategy for MNsure, with many of them coming from social service agencies, like Portico, that work with poor and uninsured Minnesotans. But as frustrated consumers continue to struggle with the MNsure website or wait on hold for its overwhelmed hot line, navigators are emerging as even more important lifelines.
Saturday's event started at 8:30 a.m. and was filled until 5:30 p.m. with people who needed 60 to 90 minutes to sign up for health insurance, hoping they could be enrolled before Dec. 31 and have coverage on Jan 1.
Taichi and Robin Chen of New Hope had completed an online application but needed help to enroll themselves and their daughter in a plan.
"We're just trying to bring it home," Robin Chen said.
Gregory Collins of Maplewood lost his insurance benefits when he was laid off from a foundry this summer. His son has been without epilepsy medication all school year. When he tried to drop a completed paper application at the front desk of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, he was told it wouldn't be processed in time and that he should consult a navigator.