Julie Schnell: President Bush, Fran Bradley utilize fear, confusion

Rochester Post-Bulletin

Nothing is more important than the health of our nation's children, and American public opinion backs up this truth.

According to polling done by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, 91 percent of U.S. residents said they want Congress to help states cover more uninsured, and nearly two-thirds of voters said they support allowing states to continue deciding which children to cover under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In addition, 84 percent of voters said they support allowing low-income, working parents of children enrolled in SCHIP to continue receiving benefits under the program.

In the face of the enormous popularity and success of SCHIP, President Bush has threatened to veto funding for the program, and his supporters like Fran Bradley, who wrote in these pages on Aug. 15, are attempting to provide him with political cover by using two of the oldest political tricks in the book: confusion and fear.

• Confusion -- Bradley and other defenders of big insurance companies confuse the access to private coverage with the affordability of health care. As anyone who pays a monthly health insurance premium can tell you, the costs are skyrocketing. According to Families USA, the worker share of family health care premiums in Minnesota has gone up 35.8 percent since 2000. Working families understand that the private health insurance system as we know it is broken and does not hold the answer to our health care crisis.

Bradley also offers a half-truth about SCHIP reimbursements. While he is on point in saying that "SCHIP reimburses providers at the same low rate as Medicaid," he fails to mention that it has been conservatives who have stood in the way of appropriate funding of Medicaid since its inception.

• Fear -- Bradley tries to scare us away from collective solutions to our health care crisis by using the "T" word: taxes. It is the same scare tactic that conservatives have used to underfund our nation's infrastructure, and we have unfortunately seen the dangerous consequences of failing to meet our societal obligations to each other. Will it cost money to pay for the collective health of our nation? Absolutely. Is the investment in our nation's children worth it? Unequivocally yes.

If, as a country, we continue to succumb to the campaigns of confusion and fear, we will never solve our health care crisis. But, if we have the courage and clarity to step over the obstacles that have been placed in our way, we can find collective solutions to the crisis we all face.

I am proud to be a part of the 14,000 health care workers in SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and the 1 million healthcare workers of SEIU Healthcare who are ready to take on the challenge. Now, it's time for our leaders to act with conviction for the health of our nation's children.

Julie K. Schnell is president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, a union of healthcare workers.