MN car crash offers lesson in health insurance debate

Scott Jensen, a Republican state senator from Carver County, might be a fan of the individual mandate, which requires people to carry health insurance.

That’s unusual in one of the state’s reddest districts.

But Jensen is also a doctor and he sees and hears things most of us don’t, as he did on Wednesday when he came upon this crash.

Jensen is hardly an apologist for the current system, however. He says his passion is the need for price transparency.

On his Twitter account, he relayed his frustration when calling around to find out the price of a colonoscopy. He gave up and decided he’d just have it done anyway, figuring it would cost the same as it did the last time he had one. When he got the bill, the cost had doubled to about $6,000.

Earlier this year, Jensen switched his position in the Senate when he crossed party lines to vote for a bill that would allow all Minnesota residents to buy in to the state-run MinnesotaCare program.

The bill died, however, because a DFL senator was out of town, preserving a Republican majority during the vote.

(h/t: Paul Tosto)