Health Care Access

Core Values | Common Ground | Equal Justice

Nebraska Appleseed has been working on a new health care initiative to examine options for expanding coverage to the uninsured. According to census data released in August 2007, 11.1% of the people in Nebraska were uninsured over the previous years which represents over 194,000 people.

Nebraska Appleseed believes access to health care is a basic human need. Further, we think that most people in Nebraska subscribe to the common sense ideal that 100% of the people should have health care coverage 100% of the time. There is a good deal of common ground on this issue from which we can begin to craft effective policy options that will lead to real solutions.

New Report Offers Help for Small Businesses, Highlights Need for Broad Health Care Reform

The continued vitality of Nebraska is compromised when Nebraska families cannot get the health care they need and our small businesses struggle under the increasing burden of health care costs.  In its continuing effort to increase health care coverage among small businesses, the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest issued a report today, “Insure Nebraska: Help for Nebraska’s Small Businesses and Working Families,” which highlights the urgent need for significant health care reform and which may also provide a potential opportunity to increase health care coverage among Nebraska’s small businesses.

Read the Report | Read the Press Release

Health Care for America Now

Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots campaign organizing millions of Americans to win a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all.   We are grounded in organizations that can mobilize people at work, at home, in their neighborhoods, and online.

Nebraska Appleseed is the lead organization for this program in Nebraska. Nebraska HCAN | HCAN Home

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SCHIP Is Critical to Nebraska Children

45,000 Reasons Why - Nebraska Appleseed/Voices for Children Op/Ed

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), called Kids Connection in Nebraska, provides access to health care for children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford health insurance in the private market or through their employer (assuming it’s offered). Kids Connection is funded by a combination of federal and state money with the majority of the cost of covering a child – 70% – covered by the federal government. Kids Connection provides coverage to children in households earning up to 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or $31,765 for a family of three. After starting its program as a model for the country, Nebraska now lags behind 40 other states with one of the 10 lowest eligibility rates in the country.

Read the Full Fact Sheet... | Why SCHIP Is Critical to Nebraska...

Tobacco Taxes are a Reasonable Source of Funding for the State Childrens Health Insurance Program

Both the Senate and the House SCHIP bills propose to increase SCHIP funding through an increase in the tobacco tax. Certain members of our delegation are not comfortable with the idea of levying any tax, even for the benefit of good public policy. The concern is that Nebraska will be sending more tobacco tax dollars to Washington than it will receive back in SCHIP dollars. Some are referring to this as creating “donor” states – donating tax dollars for a small return.

Read the Full Fact Sheet...

Nebraska Appleseed drafted and coordinated a sign-on letter to Senator Nelson asking for his continued support of Kid’s Connection and stressing the importance of supporting a budget resolution that provides adequate funding for Kids Connection and the Food Stamp program.

Read the sign-on letter...