MNsure pins website ID lockout problem to federal link [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.]

Oct. 04--Officials with MNsure, the state's health insurance exchange, asked people shopping for insurance online to delay creating accounts for a period Thursday because of problem connecting with an identity verification system operated by the federal government.

Since the MNsure website launched Tuesday afternoon, users have complained about being locked out of a portion of the website after answering questions designed to verify their identity. MNsure officials said Tuesday night that the problem was related to a server issue at MNsure that had been resolved, but problems persisted for users on Wednesday.

A MNsure spokeswoman Wednesday said night she could not explain what was happening, because 2,500 people had successfully created accounts by then. Brian Beutner, the chairman of the MNsure board, said in an interview Thursday that the problem is intermittent, adding it's unclear how many users have been impacted.

By Thursday the number of MNsure accounts created through the website had grown to 4,218.

"The federal remote identity proofing system has intermittent problems," Beutner said. "That's what you need to obviously establish the identity and security of who you are. ... It doesn't happen every time, and it doesn't happen to everybody."

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to an email seeking comment.

MNsure is part of the federal Affordable Care Act, a new law designed to get all U.S. adults signed up for health insurance. Similar online insurance exchanges went live around the country Tuesday, run either by states, as in Minnesota, or by the federal government.

The number of accounts created by MNsure users is much smaller than the volume of visitors to the website. MNsure officials say website traffic has averaged anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 visits per hour across the first three days of operation.

Beutner, however, said he wasn't sure if the number of accounts is surprisingly low, since website users can get information about health insurance options and premiums without creating an account. MNsure officials have not said how many people have obtained coverage through the website.

AmandaJean Beaulieu, 30, of Minneapolis, was able to create an account on the website Tuesday evening, and spent two hours looking at health insurance options.

Beaulieu said she was impressed both with the mechanics of the website, and the choice of health plans she found. Following a health emergency a few years ago, Beaulieu tried to buy a health insurance policy and found the pre-existing condition made the coverage unaffordable. The new law is designed to circumvent such problems.

After a period of coverage connected to a job, Beaulieu was again on the individual market this spring and qualified for a policy with a premium of about $95 per month.

"The options I was seeing (on MNsure) are a little bit higher than what I'm currently paying in premiums, but they're comparable to what I'd be getting in terms of services," Beaulieu said. She has not yet purchased a plan, but Beaulieu said on Twitter: "I love having solid options and being a human being (rather than) a pre-existing condition."

It's difficult to say how many people had positive user experiences on MNsure versus those who have struggled with the website.

Christopher Schneeman, a health insurance agent with Seven Hills Benefit Partners in St. Paul, was on the MNsure website Wednesday with his 27-year-old son to look at individual health insurance policies.

"He put his basic information in and started setting up the account, and then it just froze," Schneeman said. "Clicking got us nowhere."

Other users have reported similar stories. Monitoring consumer reactions to the website during the first few days is key, said Geoff Bartsh, vice president of public policy and government relations with Medica, a health insurer based in Minnetonka.

"The most important thing at the beginning of this process (is), how does MNsure feel to consumers who want information or want to create an account," Bartsh said.

For insurance companies, one of the questions going forward is whether there will be time to test a communications link between MNsure and the carriers, Bartsh said. On Oct. 15, MNsure is scheduled to electronically deliver the first batch of information about who has enrolled in policies.

Also Thursday, MNsure clarified the timing for an expected launch of a Spanish-language version of its website. Whereas a spokeswoman said Wednesday it might be up later this year, the agency on Thursday issued a statement saying: "The automatic translation will not occur in 2013."

Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479. Follow him at www.twitter.com/chrissnowbeck.

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