Expresses Outrage At Multi-Millionaire Candidate Ozinga’s Disregard For The Challenges Facing Working Families
Kankakee, IL – On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader and Congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson joined with families and other health care professionals to call for affordable health care. Halvorson was joined by Illinois Nurses Association President Pam Robbins who spoke about the need for affordable health insurance and preventive care. Halvorson also responded to recent comments on health care by her opponent, Martin Ozinga.
“In Illinois, 1.7 million people are uninsured. And there are 47 million Americans out there without health insurance, and it’s gone up on President Bush’s watch,” Halvorson said. “If we leave people to simply go to the emergency room, we’re doing a grave injustice to those who just can’t afford quality health insurance. That’s just wrong.”
“We have a moral obligation to do better, because there are just too many families out there being crushed by medical expenses—even if they’re lucky enough to have health insurance in the first place,” said Halvorson. “We can do more to make health insurance more affordable and more accessible. That’s why I’m running for Congress.”
In the State Senate, Debbie Halvorson has worked to provide health insurance to uninsured children and veterans, created a first-in-the-nation program to provide affordable prescription drugs to seniors and the disabled, and forced insurance companies to cover preventive care screenings like mammograms.
In 2007, the average annual cost of an employer sponsored health insurance plan is $12,106 for a family and $4,479 for single coverage.[1] The costs associated with the uninsured are spread across the entire health care system. Premiums for employer-provided family health insurance plans were estimated to cost an extra $1,502 a year by 2010 in order to cover health care expenses for the uninsured.[2]
“The only way we’re going to lower health care costs for everybody is to ensure people can afford and access quality health insurance and preventative care. Diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and asthma simply can’t be treated by a trip to the emergency room once someone is too ill to function. Worse yet, when people do just wait and go to the emergency room, they drive up premiums for everyone.”
During an interview earlier this week, Martin Ozinga said, “There are very few people now days that have no health service at all, almost anybody, I don't care who you are, if you're sick or you get hurt, you go to the hospital and you're taken care of.” Ozinga added, “I do believe that, uh, individuals ought to be responsible for themselves, and they ought to take the responsibility and realize that just because you're healthy today, doesn't mean that next year or next month or to some surprise you might be or find yourself sick and in need of health care.” [3]
“My opponent believes that people can go to the emergency room and get the care they need and that’s just fine. He believes those who are without health insurance are just not taking responsibility for themselves,” said Halvorson.
“That should tell voters a few things about Martin Ozinga. It should tell them that he doesn’t understand what dire straights people must be in if their first line of care is an emergency room,” said Halvorson. “It should tell them that Martin Ozinga doesn’t know what it’s like to sit around a kitchen table, look at the bills coming in, and wonder where the money is going to come from to pay off medical debt or meet this month’s outrageous premium.”
Halvorson was joined by families and health professionals in Kankakee at Aunt Martha’s Community Health Center, a Community Health Center that provides primary care services to both uninsured and insured families. Across the country, Community Health Centers serve 17 million people annually and of those, 6.2 million are without health insurance. Community Health Centers like Aunt Martha’s save the government $18 billion per year, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers.[4]
Halvorson laid out the following proposals to help reduce costs and improve health care:
- Allow small businesses to join together and bargain collectively in order to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums.
- Expand funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) so that more children will have access to health insurance.
- Increase funding for preventive care and screenings to help those with chronic conditions like diabetes so that individuals may maintain their disease properly and catch other diseases like cancer in early stages.
- Increase the use of information technology to reduce administrative costs and improve the delivery of health care services.
- Ensure that mental health ailments have the same coverage as physical ailments. Halvorson sponsored an Illinois law that address this issue in Illinois (HB 59, 2005).
- End the Bush administration giveaway to pharmaceutical companies and allow Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs.
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- Kaiser Family Foundation 2007 Employer Health Benefits Survey
- Families USA, June 2005
- Illinois Issue Forum, CAN-TV
- National Association of Community Health Centers
