MNsure health exchange racing to train helpers

Source: Pioneer Press, St.迷你倉 Paul, Minn.Sept. 24--One week before the expected launch of the state's health insurance exchange, no insurance agents, county workers or a new group of workers called "navigators" have been fully trained and certified to help consumers enroll in coverage through the new system, state officials told legislators Tuesday.But April Todd-Malmlov, the executive director of MNsure, said in an interview there's still enough time for some consumer helpers to get trained prior to the Oct. 1 launch.She added that it's not crucial that all the workers be ready to go by next week."We're not anticipating that there will be a lot of enrollment the first few weeks," Todd-Malmlov said in an interview at the state Capitol. "I think with anything new, people are going to want to take some time to evaluate it -- and people do have time.""The coverage is effective in January, so most people probably don't want to pay in October for something that isn't available until January," she said. "Most people will come in (during) November and December -- that's our assumption."The comments are the latest example of MNsure officials downplaying the Oct. 1 launch of the health insurance exchange, which is a new marketplace where individuals and small businesses can purchase coverage for 2014. Minnesota is creating an exchange to comply with the federal health care overhaul legislation of 2010.During a legislative oversight committee hearing Tuesday at the Capitol, Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, peppered MNsure officials with questions about the readiness of three categories of assistance personnel -- navigators, county workers and insurance agents.The federal health law calls for the creation of navigator programs, which will offer consumer assistance by a group of newly trained advisors. Insurance agents have helped small businesses and individuals buy coverage for years, and they will be able to help people obtain h自存倉alth insurance through MNsure, too.Finally, county workers who traditionally have helped enroll people in public health insurance programs such as Medicaid will now do so through the health exchange. All three groups of consumer advisors are being trained through online modules, and then will have to complete a test to show proficiency.When Benson asked Tuesday about the readiness of agents and navigators, Todd-Malmlov said: "None of them have completely finished that training." She said the training of county workers is "ongoing."The state expects to release the final training module for county workers on Sept. 30 -- just a day before the MNsure launch, said Jim Golden, a deputy assistant commissioner in the state Department of Human Services."We think the number of new (Medicaid) cases will actually be quite modest in the first few weeks of October," Golden told legislators.As of this week, all training modules for agents and navigators have been released, Todd-Malmlov said."We would have loved to have been able to do training earlier," she said. "What we and the federal government and other states are working with is a lot of system functionality coming up in a short window."She added: "They're not going to be able to get on the system before they're trained."Training includes instruction on keeping client information secure -- a sensitive issue at MNsure following a data breach earlier this month when an employee accidentally sent an email with Social Security numbers for more than 1,500 health insurance agents.In a statement following the meeting, Benson said the lack of completed training at this late date shows "the program is not ready for primetime."Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479. Follow him at .twitter.com/chrissnowbeck.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at .twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉