MNsure Tax Form Problems Continue

March 16--Last week, MNsure CEO Allison O'Toole assured anxious customers that the health exchange would send out a "significant" batch of 1095-A tax forms by March 15, as it tried to clear a backlog of nearly 18,000.

The actual number of forms processed over the weekend: 555.

MNsure has processed around two-thirds of 43,674 forms it needs to send out. Its backlog has shrunk to 14,485, but that's primarily because the health exchange now says it overestimated how many forms it needed to send by around 3,000.

People who purchased MNsure plans need the 1095-A form to prove they had health insurance and verify whether they received tax subsidies.

With the April 18 tax deadline looming and computer problems continuing to impede the processing of 1095-A forms, MNsure has moved to a fallback plan: they are also processing some forms manually.

Around 25 MNsure operations staff are now creating the tax forms by hand, in addition to the ongoing automated efforts. Each staff member can process between 15 and 20 per day -- a total of between 375 and 500 daily.

So far, MNsure spokesman Shane Delaney said, the exchange isn't paying overtime or hiring extra staff, though he said overtime remains an option as the deadline nears.

"We'll be able to send them out more frequently through this manual process," Delaney said. "We're still confident we can get them out by tax deadline day."

MNsure was supposed to have an automated system for generating the tax forms, but major bugs didn't get fixed by the end of 2015 as it had planned. It was supposed to send out all the forms by Jan. 31 and has missed multiple goals over the past month and a half.

The latest goal was last weekend. MNsure had originally said it would send out all the remaining forms by March 15. Last Wednesday, O'Toole acknowledged that wouldn't happen but said a "significant" number would still be sent out.

Delaney said the 555 forms that did get processed was "smaller than what we were anticipating."

Lawmakers such as Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, have called the delays "unacceptable" and are exploring ways to give affected customers more flexibility with the IRS and Minnesota Department of Revenue.

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