MNsure Statistics

Better late than never, the Minneapolis Star Tribune limps in today with the acknowledgement that they were lied to by the Dayton administration about MNsure health insurance rates.  On the front page of today’s print edition (above the fold), the Star Tribune announces, cryptically, “MNsure prices a weighty issue.”  The subhead reads,

Republicans say premium increases are much higher than Gov. Dayton reported.

How odd.  “Republicans,” and many others, have been saying that since the new rates were first announced on October 1^st, more than three weeks ago.  The Star Tribune itself reported all of these facts, back on October 1st.

So what has changed that this nearly-month-old observation is suddenly front-page news?  The Star Tribune has finally decided that skyrocketing MNsure rates is a political story rather than a business story.  Ten days before the mid-term elections, the Star Tribune has handed off coverage of the MNsure rate cover up to a political reporter (Ricardo Lopez) from its healthcare business reporter (Christopher Snowbeck).

Earlier this week, Snowbeck reported (on the Business page) that the Dayton Administration pressured insurer Preferred One into offering below-cost rates on the MNsure exchange.  This reporting directly contradicts sweeping denials issued by Democrat Governor Mark Dayton and members of his Administration.

So all the facts that Snowbeck reported as business news at the start of the month, now have to be re-reported as political news, on the front page.

Interestingly, the re-reporting by political reporter Lopez appears online under the headline,

 

Experts question MNsure average rate increase of 4.5 percent:

Republicans say premium increases are much higher than Gov. Dayton reported.

 

The original Snowbeck headline had read,

MNsure premiums to increase in 2015:

Average increase is 4.5%, but some could see much higher premium jumps.

The facts haven’t changed, but their presentation has undergone a subtle shift, one that speaks volumes.  In the Lopez re-reporting, a photo of Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman is featured.  Is he being set up as the fall guy?

Mark Dayton and his fellow Democrats have bet their re-elections on the public seeing MNsure as a success story.  Now that MNsure looks like something less than a triumph, Dayton is literally running away from the press to avoid answering awkward questions.

Now that the Democrat narrative of modest rate increases has collapsed, a few other items could stand for additional scrutiny.  Does Minnesota really have the nation’s lowest insurance rates?  That claim has been repeated ad nauseam by the Dayton Administration and reprinted in countless Democrat campaign ads.

What is the basis of that claim?  Has anyone ever looked behind the claim and examined it?  When comparing rates across states, are deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs incorporated?

Now that the façade has started to crumble, a Pulitzer (or Peabody) awaits the reporter who figures it out.