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Elizabeth Stawicki
St. Paul, Minn.

MNsure getting 100 new workers to help at overwhelmed call center

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A Mendota Heights company will supply MNsure with up to 100 workers to help the troubled online insurance marketplace's overwhelmed call center.

Workers from APAC Customer Services will help handle the upcoming expected influx of people signing up for health insurance to beat a March 31 deadline.

The MNsure Board approved spending up to $750,000 for the temporary workers. MNsure interim CEO Scott Leitz told the agency's board members the cost could be covered within the existing MNsure budget.

"There was money allocated in the budget for an overflow contract that was never executed so we have that funding available to us," Leitz said. "That doesn't fully cover the pieces here but we are looking to other areas of the budget. We think there will be some money in other areas that will be salary savings and some things we can reallocate."

Agency officials also announced that about 90,000 consumers have signed up for health insurance through MNsure since October.

MNsure also is seeking a "prime vendor" to help the state improve the troubled online health insurance marketplace by evaluating contractors working on the site and offering guidance for what the site should look like in the future, Leitz said.

He said MNsure aims to use money from its existing budget to pay the prime vendor but may also seek federal funding.

MNsure will send out a request for bids by the end of the week and hope to have a prime vendor in place by the end of the month.