On December 6, DLOnline published Promises of Obamacare in MN failing taxpayers, a column by state representative Steve Green (R-Fosston) in which the freshman lawmaker wrote:
On Dec. 1, MNsure — the Minnesota arm of Obamacare — will have been open for two full months. Yet, given that amount of time and more than $150 million of taxpayer resources, no Minnesotan has been able to complete enrollment in a healthcare plan through MNsure. . . .
That might be enough to keep Governor Dayton up all night except for one small problem: at least one of Green's constituents claims he has purchased a policy via Mnsure.
On November 27, 2013, the paper posted a letter from Detroit Lakes reader Donald Johnson, Political rhetoric aside, Affordable Care Act works for all ages, who wrote:
I have recently changed my health insurance policies by using the government websites that were provided through the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). I changed one policy in Minnesota using the MNsure website and one in North Dakota (for my son in Fargo) using the Health Care.gov national web site. I deliberately did everything through the websites. I used the help chat rooms built into the web application for advice, but everything was completed by me. . . .
Green's column prompted Johnson to write in another letter, published December 13, Green needs to review stand on Obama Care:
Last week I wrote a letter to the Detroit Lakes newspaper discussing my health insurance enrollment process with MNsure. Imagine my surprise, when reading the Dec. 4 paper, to see that State Representative Steve Green sent a letter to the editor saying that as of Dec. 1, 2013, no Minnesotan has been able to complete the enrollment process through MNsure. Knowing that he is an important person with high political connections, I figured he should know more about these things than a not-so-important, retired guy from Detroit Lakes, I immediately went into panic mode thinking I must not have a policy.
The first thing I did was look at my Driver’s License to verify that I was still a Minnesota resident. Second, I called my new insurance company and sure enough I did have a policy with them and they had accepted my payment for the first month. How could this be? Is it possible that a duly elected State Representative may have no idea what is really going on with an important Minnesota program? I know our representatives are very busy people so I thought, “Is it possible he has never actually used the program or went out of his way to talk to someone who has?” Certainly he would not play politics with something as precious as my personal health and the ability to get needed medical care. As I try to be a reasonable person, I made the assumption that he just wasn’t well informed and that it may be helpful if I reiterated parts of my personal experience for him.
1. Yes, Steven, there is enrollment in MNsure. I know because I went through the process and I am enrolled. (Prior to Dec. 1) ...
Read the rest at DLOnline.
Photo: The official photograph of Representative Steve Green, an important person with high political connections.
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