TRANSPARENCYandACCOUNTABILITY.ORG, “IT's OUR TURN”
27
Jul
Jul
Below, you will find the response from the Senior Senator of Illinois, Dick Durbin in response to our letter to him on Health Care Reform.
All three of our Representatives in Illinois are behind Health Care Reform! Where is the bottle neck in Congress?
On behalf of the people, thank you Senator Durbin.
TIME \@ “MMMM d, yyyy” July 24, 2009
Thank you for contacting me about the need to address rising health care costs. I appreciate hearing from you.
The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world, with per capita health expenditures higher than those of any other nation. Even though we already spend more than any other nation, health care costs in this country continue to grow rapidly. Many people are uninsured because they cannot afford the high cost of health insurance coverage.
In addition, rising costs are causing employers to cut back on health benefits or drop health coverage altogether, adding to the nearly 47 million Americans who are uninsured. Even many who do have health insurance find themselves in danger of bankruptcy when they are faced with a serious illness or injury. If we do nothing to address this mounting problem, more Americans from hardworking, middle-class families will join the ranks of the uninsured.
I believe health care reform should be a priority and that Congress should work to bring high-quality, affordable health care within the reach of all Americans.
In 2008, I introduced the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act. The SHOP Act would provide tax credits to help small business owners and the self-employed meet the high costs of providing health care for themselves and their employees. Under this legislation, small businesses would be able to band together in a purchasing pool and spread risk over a large number of participants in order to obtain lower premiums. This measure also would help protect businesses from large rate increases due to changes in employees’ health status.
I have fought to make prescription drugs more affordable through legislation that gives the federal government the ability to negotiate cheaper drug prices on behalf of seniors in Medicare. Although the Veterans Administration already uses this type of negotiating authority and has cut drug prices by as much as 50 percent for our nation’s veterans, defenders of the status quo have blocked this legislation from being brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
We also can help control health care costs in the United States by focusing on preventive efforts to keep Americans from needing expensive heath care in the first place. For example, tobacco is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 Americans each year. Tobacco use drains the economy of more than $90 billion in health care costs and lost productivity annually. I have been among those leading the federal effort to reduce tobacco use and to promote medical research and illness prevention programs that can improve the quality of life and reduce health care costs.
Rising health care costs place a strain on the federal budget and on the pocketbooks of American families and businesses. I will keep your views in mind as I continue to work to solve the growing problem of unrestrained health care costs.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Sincerely, ![]()
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
Category : Healthcare / Submittals
- Bookmark :
- Digg
- del.icio.us
- Stumbleupon
- Redit it
