Dayton: 'Hugely Disappointed' In MNsure Problems
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday, he's deeply disappointed in the problems at the state's health care exchange.
Those comments coming one day after a blistering outside review of MNsure's website, which described a staff in "crisis mode" as the flawed website melted down.
Gov. Dayton admitting it made him sad, and mad.
"I'm hugely disappointed," said the Democratic governor, who is in his fourth year as governor.
Dayton made the health care exchange a centerpiece of his first term and vowed on Thursday to get it right.
"We're going to fix it," he said. "We're going to improve it. We're determined to give Minnesota what it deserves."
The review by the Minnesota-based high-tech troubleshooting company Optum found MNsure's call center in confusion, software systems in failure and no accountable leader.
"It's brutally honest," said State Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake.
Benson said Republicans aren't surprised by MNsure's problems -- they've been warning about them for months.
Now, she said, it's up to Democrats to figure out a way to fix it.
"They created this in spite of Republican objections, and without Republican input," she said. "We asked questions about fiscal stability. We had concerns about enrollment numbers. Our concerns were largely set aside."
Gov. Dayton said Republicans want to take the state back back to the "Wild West, Darwinian" days of inadequate health care without dependent coverage to age 26, preventive services or guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions.
"They're opposed. They're opposed. They're opposed. And they are gloating now because of some of the problems that it's having," Dayton said.
