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| Giannoulias Blasts Kirk's Health Care Stand |
One of the candidates for U.S. Senate wants people to know where his opponent stands on health care reform.
Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer, travelled Wednesday to the district of U.S. Rep. Mark S. Kirk (R-Highland Park), the Republican candidate for Senate, to show how reform helps small business owners and their employees.
He also reminded voters that that Kirk not only voted against the bill in the House, but has promised that if he's elected to the Senate, he would lead the fight to repeal health care reform. He made that pledge March 12 to a group of Republicans in Winnetka, and Giannoulias is eager for Kirk's view to be widely known.
Giannoulias says that if the measure is repealed, tax credits that help small businesses afford insurance for their proprietors and employees would be ended, insurance companies would once again have free rein to use lifetime caps and pre-existing conditions to deny coverage, and senior citizens would have to pay more for prescription drugs.
"He's saying he will repeal this bill, as your United States senator," Giannoulias said at his press conference in the kitchen of a catering business in Northbrook. "As you go into the ballot box in November, you can vote for someone who's gonna repeal this bill, or someone who is gonna work hard to continue to try and reform the health insurance industry."
Giannoulias says the reform is not perfect, but it will help a lot of people and it's a step in the right direction.
Kirk, in explaining the repeal strategy to the Republican audience, noted that many of the benefits kick in gradually over the coming years. "All of the pain of the bill is upfront, and all of the gain is later," Kirk said, according to an audio recording of the event obtained by the Chicago Tribune. "If we move to repeal this bill in 2013, all you're doing is removing the pain and not a single American would have benefited from it yet. And so, as your senator, I would lead the effort, if it passes, to repeal this bill."
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 03 25 10 by Newsroom |
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