Labor Leaders Support Illinois Covered

“Enactment of the legislation proposed in Illinois will give real momentum to the national health care reform effort,” says America’s Agenda: Health Care for All President Doug Dority. “It’s the best hope in the country for passing real reform of our broken health care system in 2008, and it is the best boost we could give to passing the national reform Americans want under the next administration in Washington.”

“Working families of Illinois deserve relief from the crushing burden of rising health insurance costs,” says national AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “Passage of real health care reform like Illinois Covered in a heartland state like Illinois will advance our struggle to enact national reform that will guarantee health care coverage for all Americans.”

“Working families and responsible employers need relief from the crushing burden of health costs rising 5 times faster than wages. It’s our #1 issue,” says Terry O’Sullivan, President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, with a half million members nationwide and over 41,000 in Illinois. “Illinois Covered is a bold plan to wrestle this problem to the ground. You bet we’re going to back it.”

“The winds of change are blowing all across America,” said Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union, the largest health care union in the country. “Dozens of states like Illinois are refusing to wait for Washington to fix health care, and are taking up the challenge themselves. This is the kind of leadership we're going to need to find real solutions to the health care crisis.”