Opinion

Don't let lobbyists control Congress

Posted June 17, 2009 11:00 pm

Ninety-three percent of Americans no longer trust their insurance companies.

One hundred nineteen million Americans want a public health care option in the health care reform legislation currently being written, according to recent polls. Fifty million Americans have no health insurance. Forty-five million are on Medicare.

Until we raise our voices, our representatives in Washington are hearing from industries through lobbyists and their campaign contributions.

Instead they should be hearing from us, the people who pay their salaries, the people they are supposed to represent.

Call your Congressional Representative and Senators today to let them know where you stand on health care reform, especially if yours is one of the top 10 recipients of insurance industry campaign contributions.

Express your concern about any potential conflict of interest they may have. In northeastern Illinois Melissa Bean, a Democrat, received $253,308 and Republican Mark Kirk took $112,025 from the insurance industry in 2008 according to opensecrets.org.

Call (202) 224-3121 and tell them where you stand.

Wendy Glasshof

Palatine

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