April Todd-Malmlov Resigns as Minnesota’s Health Exchange Chief After Criticism

[PoliticAverse]

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The chief of Minnesota’s health insurance marketplace resigned Tuesday after facing criticism over the troubled rollout and a questionably timed international vacation.

April Todd-Malmlov submitted her resignation during an emergency closed session of the government board of MNsure, Minnesota’s version of the insurance exchange that’s tied to the federal health care overhaul. She had been under increasing pressure over insurance sign-up problems and failed to get a vote of confidence from Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton last week.

Read the rest at: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/404681-april-todd-malmlov-resigns-as-minnesotas-health-exchange-chief-after-criticism/

[question everything]

1. After taking a vacation in Costa Rica

and... wasn't there a different executive, some years back, who, too, took a vacation in the middle of a crisis? The State shutdown?

What is wrong with these executives? Really gives fodder for "small government" types.

[trotsky]

2. Yep.

Not that I have a problem with her vacation per se but these folks HAVE to understand that they are under a microscope and even the most ridiculous minor ordinary event will be spun and screamed about in the media.

[Mnpaul]

3. I don't have a problem with the vacation either

but the idiots who came up with the Paul Bunyan ads should be fired. They had a chance to educate the public about the program but instead chose this idiotic crap.

[question everything]

4. the strib's Tevlin expressed it right:

I put this as much on the board, and Gov. Dayton, as Todd-Malmlov. Regardless of how tirelessly MNsure employees worked the past year, the board and governor should have made it clear: No vacations between the rollout in October and the deadline in January, or until the problems are fixed. Period.

(snip)

From the comments section on stories about the trip, it seems the issue is inflamed by uniquely American idiosyncrasies: The emotional battle over health care and an unusual, and I think unhealthy, attitude toward vacations... So part of the anger directed at Todd-Malmlov is jealousy. Had she gone to Iowa, would anybody care?

That said, for an agency that has spent loads of money on advertising, the lack of awareness of the potential public relations fallout is stunning.

(snip)

I have some unsolicited advice to all those involved in the vacation decision: Costa Rica’s health care system is universal, and rated among the top 20 in the world. We should ask how they do it.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/235887941.html