ST. PAUL — Beneath a scathing audit of MNsure released last week are additional details that could bolster lawmakers’ case to give the Legislature greater power over the state’s health insurance exchange.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor concluded that MNsure overpromised and under delivered in its first year. Hundreds of interviews, emails and documents supporting that audit shed more light about who knew what as the ill-fated launch approached, who was responsible and what was done to fix mounting problems.

A ‘tech surge’?

As MNsure faltered in late 2013, Gov. Mark Dayton publicly chastised one of the state’s main vendors building the exchange’s technical infrastructure for making it “impossible to provide Minnesotans with any reasonable customer service.” In turn, IBM launched what was billed as a “tech surge” of 80-plus employees dedicated to fixing bugs and bailing out a swamped call center.

In reality, the company sent just nine employees, “mostly PR people,” then-state chief information officer Carolyn Parnell told state auditors. MNsure confirmed a small number of IBM employees were dispatched.

Company spokesman Clint Roswell disputed Parnell’s statement, calling it an “ill-informed remark” that doesn’t accurately reflect IBM’s work on the project. He said MNsure — not IBM — publicized the larger surge of workers.

A leader deposed

The audit faulted MNsure —and former executive director April Todd-Malmlov — for not seeking additional input or sharing issues with the board or the administration sooner.

No one was harsher on Todd-Malmlov than Parnell, who blamed her for most of the exchange’s problems.

“She was absolutely intent on being in control of everything. She would not take direction from anybody,” the former Office of MN.IT Services commissioner said, according to a transcript. “From where I sit, she was the big problem.”

Todd-Malmlov resigned amid controversy stemming from a trip to Costa Rica as the exchange struggled to meet basic demands. She declined a request for comment.

MNsure board chairman Brian Beutner told auditors it wasn’t just the public outcry over Todd-Malmlov’s trip that led to her departure. He told auditors her absence removed a “choke point” on information and let him see wider problems and concerns across state government.