A Collective Solution

Star Tribune

In Peter Nelson’s rebuttal to our support for expanding the immensely popular and effective State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), he touts the tired conservative mantra of tax reform.  

Instead of focusing on how we can collectively provide states with the tools they need to enroll the five million children currently eligible but not enrolled in the program, including the 78 percent of the 66,000 children uninsured in Minnesota, Nelson and the Center for the American Experiment continue to place the burden on the shoulders of individuals.  

President Bush's tax cuts are designed to protect the role of big insurance companies and score cheap political points while doing nothing to improve the affordability and access to our health care system.  

The health care crisis of access and affordability will never be answered if we continue down the path of market-driven individualism.  Like any complex problem, solving our health care crisis requires coming together to find a collective solution to the problems we face. Especially, when it comes to the health of our nation’s children.  

--Julie K. Schnell, President
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota