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Correction: MNsure topped 90 percent of enrollment goal in first month

When other enrollees are added in, the health exchange did far better than the 38 percent level originally reported.

MNsure says it has actually achieved more than 91 percent of its federal first-month enrollment target, far better than the 38 percent the New York Times reported earlier this week.

MinnPost used the incorrect statistic in a Thursday article about the health insurance marketplace.

“The feds (not MNsure) set an enrollment target for all states, and for us they set it at 4690. The article says we only hit 38 percent of that,” MNsure Spokeswoman Jenni Bowring-McDonough said in an email pointing out the inaccuracy.

“That statistic is not accurate because our number needs to include private enrollment and MinnesotaCare to be comparable. So our number should be 4279, and that is over 91 percent of the target.”

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Bowring-McDonough’s figure includes both the 1,774 Minnesotans who had begun enrolling in private insurance as reported on Nov. 6, in addition to the 2,505 people who were determined MinnesotaCare eligible.

MinnesotaCare is a state-based public program for working low-income people. Bowring-McDonough cited a federal enrollment report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released on Wednesday.

That report includes this footnote: “Please note that when comparing Minnesota’s cumulative data for these indicators with other State-Based Marketplaces, the number of individuals (2,505) determined eligible for MinnesotaCare should be included in the calculation.”

The Times wrote: “Enrollment targets are from a September memo from Marilyn B. Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary.”