MNCare and mortality

Senator Linda Berglin, an outspoken opponent of cuts to medical care funding, said today that cuts to MinnesotaCare have resulted in an increase in mortality among childless adults. In 2003, the legislature imposed a cap on benefits for these people.

While I am as opposed to cuts as Senator Berglin, the statistics student in me says "correlation is not causation." Berglin did not provide any indication that the cap directly led to people's deaths through inadequate medical care. Until there is proof of this, it is not appropriate to blame people's death on the cap.