We all know that the track record of conservative politicians telling the truth is shaky at best. They’ve denied climate change, contested the legitimacy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and lied about the minimum wage. Thus, few of us were surprised when a conservative group launched an ad bashing MNsure the same day new research found that the healthcare exchange has actually caused Minnesota’s uninsured rate to drop by over 40 percent.

The ad, paid for by the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, argues that MNsure has done nothing positive for the state, and calls Gov. Mark Dayton “out of touch” for praising the healthcare exchange.

It’s unfortunate that the group’s ad is completely incorrect. MNsure’s signups have actually caused the state’s uninsured rate to drop from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent.

Regretfully, it seems the hastily-created ad proves that the Minnesota Jobs Coalition and conservative groups delivering the same message are the ones who are truly “out of touch.”

The 40 percent statistic came from research at the University of Minnesota. The report’s lead researcher, Julie Sonier, emphasized how beneficial MNsure has been to the state:

This is a pretty historic change in insurance coverage in Minnesota. The uninsurance rate has been stable for, or slightly increasing for a long time. We have never seen anything like the change that we have seen between last fall and May first of this year.

Better luck next time to the Minnesota Jobs Coalition at bending the truth. We’ll still be here to prevent them from blatantly lying to Minnesotans.