Some employees at one of the hospitals run by Cook County are speaking out about the controversial sales tax rate. Board President Todd Stroger recently vetoed an effort to reduce the sales tax by one-percentage-point. Stroger says his veto saved Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side from shutting down. Reneau Diallo is a nurse-midwife at Provident.
DIALLO: People are frightened. People are concerned and people are concerned for many different reasons. First of all because of the financial crisis it might mean for them, personally.
Diallo says hospitals like Provident are necessary because private hospitals aren’t serving enough of the uninsured. Some county commissioners said they were willing to make cuts in order to slash the sales tax.