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Group Targets Dayton In TV Ad On Health Care Law

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- By most accounts, MNsure's rollout was a disaster. But six months after signups began, CEO Scott Leitz says the online marketplace has turned a corner.

"We're continuing to grow at about 1,000 people per day who we're enrolling through MNsure, so we're continuing to see growth, and it's only going to get more as we move into the fall open-enrollment period," Leitz said.

MNsure reports 239,000 people have now signed up for insurance through the state's website. That includes 137,000 on medical assistance, 49,000 on MinnesotaCare and 52,000 in private insurance plans.

Even so, criticism of MNsure and Obamacare is reaching new levels in an election-year TV ad from the Minnesota Jobs Coalition.

"Obamacare has been a disaster, and Mark Dayton's MNsure has made it even worse," said the ad's narrator.

The ad links MNsure to Obamacare, claiming it cost too much and insured too few.

"Of course we want more people to be insured, but for the MNsure officials and the Dayton administration to somehow do a victory lap - it's way premature," said Ben Golnik of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition.

The governor's election campaign fired back, saying in a statement: "More Minnesotans than ever have access to quality healthcare at the lowest rates in the nation. And MNsure reduced the number of uninsured by 40 percent."

MNsure officials say they are not paying attention to outside political chatter, and instead are focusing on more signups in the fall.

"They're able to access services and have peace of mind now, and that's a really, really important thing and that's what really we're focused on," Leitz said.

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