MNsure Enrollment Tops 145,000

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota's health insurance exchange is reporting a jump in enrollments as Monday's open enrollment deadline approaches.

MNsure officials say total enrollment has topped 145,000. That compares with over 136,700 reported Monday when the exchange announced it had surpassed its sign-up goal of 135,000. A major reason for the jump is a large batch of paper applications for private plans that were just added to the count.

The new numbers compiled for MNsure's board of directors Tuesday include nearly 41,000 enrollments in private insurance plans and over 104,000 for the public Medicaid and MinnesotaCare plans.

People who fail to enroll by 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline face federal tax penalties. Consumers who can show they've made a good faith effort to enroll by then but can't complete the process will get reprieves.