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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

HEALTH CARE

MNsure sign-up returns Saturday

Tom Klein
Posted 11/13/14

REGIONAL – The start of MNsure’s 2015 open enrollment period begins on Saturday and the state is urging Minnesotans who are first-time enrollers or changing plans to prepare now. The enrollment …

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HEALTH CARE

MNsure sign-up returns Saturday

Posted

REGIONAL – The start of MNsure’s 2015 open enrollment period begins on Saturday and the state is urging Minnesotans who are first-time enrollers or changing plans to prepare now. The enrollment period ends on Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, IT workers still are dealing with bugs on the health insurance program’s website.

According to a representative of Deloitte Consulting, which the state hired for $5 million to fix the troubled website, the overall repair effort has made substantial progress in fixing a list of some 400 problems.

“We’ve closed over 70 percent of them, which isn’t a bad closure rate,” said Brian Keane of Deloitte Consulting. “We’d like to see it a little higher.”

Starting on Saturday, Nov. 15, plan information will be available for review on MNsure.org. Minnesotans can view this information without creating an account; however, an application must be completed to see tax credit or subsidy information. If you created an account in 2014, you do not have to create a new account.

Even though open enrollment does not end until Feb. 15, 2015, to ensure your coverage is active on Jan. 1, 2015, you must complete enrollment by Dec. 15, 2014.

Help is available for those signing up for MNsure and in selecting an insurance carrier.

Navigators are trained to provide free face-to-face application and enrollment assistance while brokers and agents are trained and licensed professionals offering free face-to-face enrollment assistance and advice to help you select a plan.

A searchable directory of navigators and brokers is available online at the MNsure website at www.mnsure.org.

Some of the local sites offering assistance include:

Bois Forte Health & Human Services — Located at 5219 St. Johns Drive in Nett Lake, the service has four navigators on staff. Navigators include Ericka Cote, Bessie Medicine, Michelle Long and Connie Harju. The site’s phone number is 218-757-3295.

Cook Area Health Services (Scenic Rivers Health Services) — The clinic has navigators available at its clinics in Cook (23 Fifth Street SE), Tower (415 N. Second Street, Suite 2) and Floodwood (126 W. Seventh Avenue) in St. Louis County. Navigators include Paulette Campbell, Karla Villebrun, Meredith Erickson, Deb Siverhus and Sharon Miller. Clinic phone numbers are 218-666-5941 in Cook, 218-753-2405 in Tower and 218-476-2221 in Floodwood.

Tower Soudan Agency – Located at 605 S. Second Street in Tower, the agency’s Gary W. Burgess is a broker. He can be reached at email at gburgess@frontiernet.net or by phone at 218-753-2101.

The Francis Agency Inc. — Located at 106 S. River Street in Cook, the agency’s Dane C. Francis is a broker. Francis can be reached by email at francisagency@accessmn.com or by phone at 218-666-2124.

Be sure to have the following when you meet with a navigator or broker to select a plan.

•The Social Security number for each person applying.

•Date of birth for everyone in the household (not just those applying).

•A driver’s license, tribal ID or other ID.

•For non-citizens, a green card or other immigration documents.

•Last year’s tax forms (1040EZ or page 1 of the 1040).

•Two most recent pay stubs.

•Documents of other sources of income (Social Security, unemployment, self-emploment, etc,),

•W2 form or Employee Tax ID Number (EIN).

•Employer’s address and contact information.

•Information about any employer-provided health insurance available to each person applying (request this from employer).

•Think of a username and password for your MNsure account.