MNsure Enrollment Surge Prompted By Cost & Access Concerns

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The state's health insurance exchange says they've signed up 10,000 residents for coverage in the first two days of open enrollment.

MNsure is handling record levels of traffic this year. It's driven by concern about massive premium increases and plan availability for 2017 coverage.

Chief Executive Allison O'Toole said Thursday that more than 10,000 plans had been selected by the morning. That's more enrollments than in the entire first month of open enrollment last year.

State officials are still investigating a suspicious surge of nearly 50,000 calls on Tuesday morning that jammed phone lines as enrollment first opened. Those calls and a home page outage that affected 70 state websites frustrated shoppers searching for a plan.

Open enrollment lasts through the end of January.