Rep. Peggy Bennett has been a true leader when it comes to ensuring we have the best health care possible in southern Minnesota. She has been involved in working with officials and representatives to come up with the best solutions for our local health care crisis.

Currently, in Minnesota, we have a program called MinnesotaCare that helps individuals who qualify with low-cost or no-cost health insurance. MinnesotaCare is currently subsidized by a tax on medical providers, which in turn is passed on through higher costs for medical care and services for everyone. The Democrats want to open this up to allow others to buy into the MinnesotaCare program. By increasing the number of individuals allowed to be part of the program, it will increase the cost of medical care and premiums even further. One should then consider what the next step will be.

The Democrats have admitted that their MinnesotaCare buy-in plan is the step to a single-payer system that will change our health care to the failed European health care systems. In Denmark, a person can’t get into seeing a doctor in some cases for over a year unless you can prove it’s an emergency. As they get older, those who have money get their own policies, so they will have decent health care. This leaves the poor with the worst health care. Why would we pattern our health care system after a failed European system? There are common-sense ways to fix our current health care system without upending it for a single-payer system that will destroy our health care and bankrupt our state budget. This government-run single-payer system would eventually cause deterioration in health care services and create even less new, aspiring doctors and nurses to enter the field.

Peggy Bennett has been working hard to make sure we’re able to have the very best medical care available. She has worked on and worked with others to come up with affordable, quality options that will allow us to make our own decisions about our health care.

Vote for Rep. Peggy Bennett, so she can continue with her hard work and diligence on this very important issue that affects us all.

Brad Edwin

Albert Lea