DURBIN AND HALVORSON OFFER SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS HEALTH CARE AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

Talk with local area business owners and employees about difficulties of current economy, small businesses, and health care; Discuss Durbin’s SHOP legislation

NORMAL—U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and State Senator Debbie Halvorson met with local small business owners, advocates and employees to discuss breakthrough bi-partisan legislation Durbin authored with support from business and labor groups, designed to make insurance more available and affordable for the 1.8 million employees of Illinois' 250,000 small businesses and for half a million people who are self-employed in Illinois.

Nationwide, there are 47.1 million employees in 5.8 million small businesses and 14.1 million self-employed individuals. There are over 16,000 self-employed individuals in the 11th district alone.

The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) addresses the number one problem for many small businesses and the self-employed -- the high cost of providing health care for their employees -- by:

• Allowing small businesses to band together and spread the risk over a large number of participants in order to obtain lower premiums.

• Providing tax credits for small business owners to offset contributions to employee premiums.

• Banning health status rating in order to protect businesses from large rate increases simply because one employee gets sick.

“I’m grateful Senator Durbin came to Normal to speak with area residents about this important legislation. We both recognize there is a health care crisis in America. We need to work together to take on this problem, which is only compounding the difficulties and expenses for small businesses in this difficult economy,” said Halvorson.

“Furthermore, I’m opposed to “deregulating” the health care industry—which is one of my opponent’s core platforms. You can see where deregulation got Wall Street – we can’t take those sorts of gambles with our health care.

“Deregulation of health insurance would roll back important protections I’ve fought for in the State Senate, such as mandatory coverage of mammograms and mastectomies. Could you imagine filing a claim for your yearly check-ups and being denied, while every month you pay out of control premiums? We can’t stand for this.”

Halvorson has spoken about Durbin’s SHOP legislation on the stump as part of her health care policy proposal, which include tax credits for prevention and wellness programs and an emphasis on moving towards electronic medical records to bring down costs.

“Contrary to popular belief, most people who don’t have insurance are not out of work -- in fact, they work full time in small businesses that cannot afford health insurance for their workers,” said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

“Small business owners across America are trying to do their part to help provide their employees with health insurance, but they are struggling with annual double-digit premium increases. This bill helps solve that problem,” said Durbin.

“I hope the 11th district will send Senator Halvorson to Congress to help me pass this vital legislation, which will address our nation’s health care crisis,” Durbin continued.