[0:02] **Joe Wicklund:** hi everybody my name is joe wicklund i'm the communications and community engagement manager for the city of hermantown we don't get a lot of questions at city hall about insurance probably for a lot of good reasons but they do over at our partners at the essentia wellness center and there's some pretty good reasons for that because we have a not as well known as it should be embedded resource over there in michelle babcock and so today we're going to talk a little bit about mnsure and insurance hi michelle hi joe thanks for having me today yeah so so you and i met before and we've talked a little bit about a variety of things and we want to kind of clue folks into more of the resources and opportunities that are happening over at the essentia wellness center through a grant through the ymca and the work you're doing over there so [0:47] **Joe Wicklund:** tell me a little bit about who you are and we'll get into why folks should hang out with you [0:47] **Michelle Babcock:** that sounds great so like joe said i'm michelle i'm here at the essentia wellness center i'm a mnsure navigator and i know that that's kind of an arbitrary term for many people but what a mnsure navigator does is works with consumers to help them find adequate insurance some people may not have insurance or you may have insurance but it's not the right fit for your current situation so that's what we're here for is to kind of solve that puzzle and make sure everybody's on the right path [1:34] **Joe Wicklund:** so you so kind of that first like stereotype thing that you've gotten to get rid of is michelle you do not sell insurance do you [1:34] **Michelle Babcock:** exactly i do not sell insurance we are a free service that assists the public so anybody in minnesota can work with a mnsure navigator [1:34] **Joe Wicklund:** so i'm i'm kind of like literally kind of the average joe or even the blue average joe when it comes to knowing about how insurance works um so when we think about like the why part of someone coming to meet with you that you know hey i'm not going to be sold insurance by michelle all right i've seen this video that's that's clear to me too but but why would i connect with her why would i call her why would i set up a zoom call why would i come hang out with her [2:19] **Michelle Babcock:** great question so as a mnsure navigator we can assist with anyone regarding open enrollment which is actually now open enrollment the state of minnesota for health insurance started november 1st and it goes through december 22nd so we help people apply for a mnsure account apply for the insurance itself we help people with their life event changes and everything from there's three different buckets of service that or coverage i should say that mnsure has they have minnesota medicaid or the medical assistance program minnesota care and also private health care plans called qhps so we are versed and knowledgeable in all three of those programs and can make sure that whoever the individual or the family that's applying has the adequate coverage based off their family situation um and their needs [2:19] **Joe Wicklund:** so not only am i not an insurance expert so you're so part of what i hear you saying michelle is you can be my insurance expert for me you can help me [3:05] **Joe Wicklund:** literally navigate through all that stuff [3:05] **Michelle Babcock:** absolutely the only thing that mentioned navigators can't do is recommend any plans if you're on a private health care plan we're not brokers we can't recommend which plan you go through but we can give you all the information um to get you going to make those decisions [3:05] **Joe Wicklund:** the idea is you know you've got somebody there to help you they are free it doesn't cost anything to meet with you except for some time uh the potential exists that as i kind of walk through this experience with you i might save some money have a better idea on how to get myself covered obviously i'm going to be able to maybe learn some things about positively impacting my health so we're talking about free saving money you know improved health why wouldn't somebody come and just [3:52] **Joe Wicklund:** carve out some time with you [3:52] **Michelle Babcock:** you know i i can't think of a good reason i mean we're here as a resource even if you're just looking for information if you just have questions on the process we're here for that as well that's all part of it i mean there's people that come in and and maybe they don't have insurance and their they leave the appointment signed up for insurance maybe we have an hour-long conversation and everywhere everything in between so really i mean just a good resource to have and i we're just wanting everyone to know that whether it's the city of duluth city of hermantown surrounding areas there's navigators available not just even here at the essentia wellness center if you look on insuredduluth.org you'll find a list of community resources trusted organizations that have navigators [4:38] **Michelle Babcock:** that might fit more of a geographical need for you i know right now we're doing remote help so people can do their entire enrollment by the phone which is perfect for this pandemic time and we also can do in-person appointments if necessary following of course following safety protocols [4:38] **Joe Wicklund:** so you we've covered a little bit of who you are and why you know it's a great option there's the how piece which is you've covered this a little bit but you know what so if a person wants to connect with you uh what's the best plan and also i mean you deal with folks on a regular basis all day long so you've got folks who are stuck in the nine to five you've got folks that are juggling three jobs or three kids or crazy schedules and not only are they not insurance experts but [5:24] **Joe Wicklund:** they're never going to have time to meet with you how do i get in touch with you and how do i navigate my schedule to fit with you [5:24] **Michelle Babcock:** i'm so glad you asked that perfect question so you can call me anytime i'm here at the essentia wellness center and you can also email me um i can get you my information maybe joe you could put that up so people could link that that'd be great um my my availability is really based on consumers if somebody needs a five o'clock appointment i'm available for that um between now and december 22nd i'm available monday through saturdays um certainly not available 24 hours a day but again i'm flexible i want to be able to be available when you're available so call me we'll set an appointment most appointments take between 60 and 90 minutes for an actual [6:09] **Michelle Babcock:** enrollment um but i'm i'm here available whenever whenever needed [6:09] **Joe Wicklund:** and some of that time frame is is simply you know figuring out you taking some time to figure out an individual or a family situation to be able to start kind of guiding them right [6:09] **Michelle Babcock:** absolutely i mean the things that we're going to be asked it's kind of a a screening process if you will we have to ask some you know mandatory questions to know you know what program you would be qualified for what you could fit in for um and so having your income available having possible last year taxes available having social security numbers of people who are applying available those are the things that people should be prepared for and sometimes there's a follow-up call needed sometimes we can get it done [6:55] **Michelle Babcock:** in one fell swoop [6:55] **Joe Wicklund:** when i think about probably the basic kind of questions that you probably get asked regularly and they're probably not even questions right the the biggest statement you probably get is is and and folks are probably saying this now even before they get to you is i don't qualify for mnsure so i i don't need to talk to michelle because i don't qualify for mnsure but that's not really the right starting point for this is it [6:55] **Michelle Babcock:** no it's not at all so mnsure is the platform it's the marketplace mnsure has three different i call them buckets of coverage there's those three different programs and it doesn't matter um your income it doesn't matter your family size there's a program there's a coverage for you if you are in need of coverage [7:41] **Joe Wicklund:** cool and then the other part i would imagine too you mentioned obviously all the changes that we're dealing with with coronavirus but also also some of the regular occurrences it's open enrollment it's that time of year you know we're talking about you know folks who you know job changes job losses marriages family size changes uh you know there's just a lot of variables that are always in the mix and now they're multiplied by the coronavirus i think sometimes at least personally i feel like sometimes you make a decision this time of year that you feel stuck in i'm stuck in my insurance so that's the other thing that came up not only you know hey i don't qualify for insurers you've kind of covered but like i don't want to be stuck what's your what's your kind of response to folks who feel like that this time of year [8:28] **Michelle Babcock:** yeah so mnsure requires that everybody report changes um this has to do with anything as simple as an address change to a life event change such as a marriage or a child this would be income changes job changes so they're always looking at your situation and making sure to put you in a new program if that's what's appropriate so not only is it required to put your changes you really want to do that but it's also beneficial to the consumer to do that and keep on top of of that real current live information [8:28] **Joe Wicklund:** so the i don't qualify parts and the um uh you know i don't want to be stuck in an you know a 2021 that i don't know what will happen are you can kind of dispel those and it's still worth kind of connecting with michelle for sure [9:14] **Michelle Babcock:** yes absolutely [9:14] **Joe Wicklund:** the last piece you and i have talked we're gonna we're gonna cover you know in future conversations later this week about stereotypes and different things that you deal with but there's a reason why we're having this discussion and it isn't just because hey the ymca at the essentia wellness center got a grant and michelle's there and she's fantastic this is a real need in our area and i think whether we're talking about the city of hermantown where i work or even the surrounding areas whether we're talking about some of the small townships or are spilling all the way into duluth we're and i'm learning this from you we're a really kind of dramatically underinsured area [10:01] **Michelle Babcock:** yes there are some numbers we were able to get from generations healthcare initiatives and the numbers really do show that there's some underinsured populations here right in this hermantown and surrounding areas there's just a huge need i mean if you don't have health insurance one event could really um you know break you it's it's so it's such a hard thing to go through a medical event so you really want to be prepared and you want to have all of your resources we encourage anyone who is uninsured or underinsured to give a caller or even if you just want to call and review your situation again we're not selling insurance i can't recommend an insurance plan what i can do is say this is this is what i'm finding based on your situation to get you the best appropriate coverage uh and doing that for for everyone in the hermatown area duluth area surrounding communities that is definitely the goal to get those numbers up [10:46] **Joe Wicklund:** that's exciting i know you know a lot of folks aren't aren't necessarily knowledgeable on the relationship between the city of hermantown and the essentia wellness center and how that all came to be but it really is a regional center for health and more and that is a big part about why you and i are discussing uh what we're talking about today but also the idea that this extends beyond certainly the borders of one particular city this is definitely not just a hermantown thing or a duluth thing but but something that we can all talk about because in some capacities we're going to dispel some myths about mnsure insurance what your role is in it but also maybe bring in kind of a an under discussed part of health care to the surface so that we can even in coming discussions talk about you know where you could do some neighborly things to reach out to some other folks to kind of guide them to michelle so it's not just you and i talking about it but there can be at least during this open enrollment period during a really kind of chaotic and dynamic time because of coronavirus more discussion about some basic pieces that we don't like like i said at the beginning i don't need to be an expert in i just need to know where to go to get your expertise [11:31] **Michelle Babcock:** yes absolutely i think just having that resource here having people know that that we're here insure duluth.org there's other navigators as well i mean we're all here to reach out and educate and inform people and then hopefully the word will spread and and we can serve more in the community [12:16] **Joe Wicklund:** that's fantastic michelle i want to thank you for your time today we're going to michelle and i are going to get together we're going to do a couple more kind of versions of this we're going to put some information out for folks to um to chew on and to consider both on the city of hermantown social media websites a little bit through the essentia wellness center's sites and we'll kind of base this off of the city of hermantown's personal city website but also the idea is this is all information that's out there for folks to be able to grab and to chew on and find different ways to connect with michelle so as folks are seeing this you know hit that share button talk to your friends and neighbors about it they the goal here is less about um you know kind of michelle and i building awareness but really being able to take that awareness a step further and see what's possible with it so in future discussions michelle will have some some awesome candid discussions about the who's how's whys of insurance and the entire time uh i hope to not gain expertise not become smarter about it so that we can just keep use the expert and spread it out to everybody who's in the same boat as me which is i mean honestly kind of intimidated by insurance and intimidated by open enrollment and this time here these are important decisions and it's awesome to know that there's somebody like you out there that we can reach out to so thanks for your time michelle [13:02] **Michelle Babcock:** thank you joe [13:02] **Joe Wicklund:** all right stay tuned folks there'll be more we're excited to talk about mnsure insurance get to know michelle moore and get to know more about the opportunities that exist to support our area and becoming a little bit more insured and a little bit more coverage in our in terms of be able to improve our health prospects in our area thanks everybody