Our local representative, Shannon Savick, was one of the authors of the bill that brought Obamacare to Minnesota — the state health insurance exchange known as MNsure. Since the open enrollment period began in October, Minnesotans have struggled with countless technical glitches, higher costs and fewer choices.

Families in Southeastern Minnesota have been hit especially hard. A family in Fillmore County, just a few counties over, were faced with the prospect of no clinics in their home county if they purchased a plan through the Minnesota Obamacare website.

More than 280,000 Minnesotans were forced off plans they may have liked and forced to find a new plan. Many families face higher insurance premiums and deductibles. This was not what we were promised when bill authors promised more choices and cost-savings for Minnesota families.

Despite “red alert” security warnings before its launch, MNsure went full-speed ahead and only recently fixed a glaring security issue that left Minnesotans’ private information vulnerable to attacks over Wi-Fi networks and was described as less secure than the federal Obamacare website, famous for its early glitches and technological failures.

The Minnesota Obamacare exchange (MNSure) has already cost taxpayers nearly $200 million to build a half-functional website. The doctor and clinic search functions still don’t work as they are supposed to, making it difficult to figure out if you can keep your clinic or doctor. For the amount of money Rep. Savick and

Democrats are spending, we should be getting more bang for our buck.

MNsure’s executive director resigned amid much controversy over the technical problems and an ill-timed trip to Costa Rica. It’s time we hold the architects of the legislation to bring Obamacare to Minnesota accountable, too. Rep. Savick is responsible for the mess that has been brought to Minnesota, and frankly our district deserves better.

Rep. Savick, as an author of this bill, has contributed to people losing their insurance, causing them undue stress, wasting our money on a poorly designed, half functioning, poorly secured website and spending money on TV ads with Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. She has done us, her constituents, a great disservice.

 

Carol Nelson
Clarks Grove