Being self-employed means buying my own health insurance. MNsure is a health insurance marketplace/exchange for people who live in Minnesota.
We are forced to use MNSure if we want tax-deductible health insurance. The plans appear to be the same as the plans available directly from the insurance companies.
The MNSure website is a travesty. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. It is hard to use and hard to sign into and looks like intranets looked in the 1990’s.
Calling MNSURE means being put on hold for hours. That isn’t an exaggeration. There are “helpers” who can help people sign up for insurance. I tried that one year and found that I knew more about MNSure and the insurance.
MNsure doesn’t have offices open to the general public. I once tried to deliver a large document to them. They have a PO box and offices at an undisclosed location in an office park near the river.
They send me notices several times a year asking for information and stating that if I don’t provide it by a certain date I may lose my insurance. I’ll admit I don’t respond well to threats. I don’t think they can cancel my insurance but I don’t really know.
For a few years, we lived under the threat of the ACA being repealed and maybe we wouldn’t be able to get health insurance at all.
The health insurance I get has a huge deductible. I tend to do all that I can to stay healthy. I used to fantasize about using the money I pay in premiums to finance a yacht or a vacation home.
Open enrolment starts on November 1st. If you use the exchange to buy insurance best wishes on a speedy sign-up.
