Suburban Representatives react to Sunday's vote

Here is how the suburban members of the U.S. House of Representatives reacted to the health care reform vote on Sunday:

Democrat Melissa Bean of Barrington: Yes."I am proud to support these significant reforms because they provide the famiiies and small businesses of the 8th District with the health care security, affordability and choice they have been asking for, while yielding $1.3 trillion in federal deficit reduction, so that we can improve our nation's fiscal health as well as its physical health."Bean said the bill prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage, excluding coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and imposing lifetime benefit caps that drive too many American families into bankruptcy.Bean added, "This bill is as much for those who have insurance as much as the 32 million who don't have an employee-based option and will now have access to affordable insurance."Republican Judy Biggert of Hinsdale: No.Biggert delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House: "I rise today deeply troubled, not just by this bill, but by the historic opportunity this body has squandered. We had so long to get this right, so many chances to take a step back and listen - really listen - to what the American people were asking of us."Instead, true leadership was cast aside in favor of backroom deals, partisan games, and legislative gimmicks. The best intentions - on both sides of the aisle - never had a chance to turn good ideas into great policy. And we are left with a bill that everyone acknowledges is so poorly crafted that we're voting to overhaul it the same day it is going to the president."But the American people still have a choice. It's not between this partisan bill and nothing. We can still work together to deliver the common-sense reforms that the American people want. "Mr. Speaker, I know many colleagues have been struggling with this vote. I urge them to vote 'no,' and work with us to pass reforms we all can be proud of - that we all can vote for."Mr. Speaker, I vote no. And I urge my colleagues to do the same."Democrat Bill Foster of Batavia: Yes."Everyone who isn't personally suffering from the gaps in our health system knows someone who is," Foster said in an interview Sunday night. "Plus the current system is a huge loss of freedom. People who want to start a small business or move to another city or a job that fits them better are afraid they'll lose their health care."Foster, who announced his support for the bill Sunday morning, said he had to first read and understand 100 pages of changes affecting the version that had been passed by the Senate. He said the changes made in the House that were most important to him "make it easier for individuals and small businesses to afford health care coverage." Foster also praised the House for removing most of the special benefits to specific states apparently designed to garner individual votes in the Senate.In his statement Foster said: "In the past year I've heard from thousands of constitutents who have passionately argued in favor of or against the legislation. Though there have been spirited disagreements about the details, almost everyone agrees that our health insurance system is broken."Republican Mark Kirk of Highland Park: No."I strongly support reforms that lower health care costs, keep taxes low, protect Medicare and do not put Illinois jobs at risk. We have heard from the National Federation of Independent Businesses that Speaker Pelosi's bill would have devastating consequences on small businesses and their employees. "The Congressional Budget Office reports Illinois families will see their insurance premiums rise between $1,800 and $3,899 per year in the individual market. The bill would cut Medicare for 120,000 Illinois seniors and add nearly 5 percent in taxes to Illinois family retirement savings. If you are for lower health care costs, if you are for Illinois jobs, if you are for Illinois seniors and if you are for lower taxes, you cannot be for this trillion-dollar government health care bill."Republican Don Manzullo of the Rockford area: No.Congressman Don Manzullo said the President's $1 trillion health care bill is a job-killing disaster that will slap Americans with massive tax increases and Medicare cuts immediately while delaying the bulk of the health care benefits until 2014. Manzullo said the President's bill is a massive government takeover of health care that would:bull; Increase taxes on Americans by $569 billion;bull; Increase Americans' health insurance premiums $2,100 by 2014, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office;bull; Put another 3 to 5 million Americans on the unemployment lines due to the heavy mandates that require employers to provide health care coverage to their employees and families whether they can afford it or not; bull; Require the IRS to hire up to 16,500 additional workers to enforce all the new tax penalties on Americans who can't afford to purchase health insurance;bull; Make Americans wait until 2014 to receive the bulk of the benefits. In fact, the ban on pre-existing conditions doesn't kick in until 2014 for adults;bull; Put another 15 million Americans on Medicaid, a struggling program that pays such low reimbursement rates that 121 Walgreens stores in Washington announced last week they would no longer accept Medicaid for prescriptions;bull; Burden states with additional Medicaid share costs. The State of Illinois, already facing a $12 billion budget deficit with plans to cut $1.3 billion from local school funding, would have to pay $1.8 billion in additional Medicaid sharing costs to cover the additional enrollments;bull; Create a new 2.9 percent tax on life-saving medical devices. "This bill is a disaster that will increase taxes, cut Medicare, raise health care premiums, and put millions more Americans on the unemployment lines. And amazingly, most of the benefits - including the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults - won't be available for another four years," Manzullo said. "This bill is a hoax on the American people, and is certainly not the type of health care reform Americans deserve. We should instead be pursuing the bipartisan reforms that would make health care more affordable and accessible to Americans, and not make them wait four years for assistance."Republican Peter Roskam of Wheaton: No."Most Americans want us to concentrate, as it relates to health care, they want us to concentrate on bringing costs down, dealing with access and dealing with pre-existing conditions. But this bill is so far off the mark. It raises taxes. It creates mandates on individuals. It is going to take $500 billion out of savings from Medicare and not keep the savings to make Medicare stronger but to start a new program. It is going to foist an entitlement program on the state of Illinois, when Springfield is screaming in terms of budget troubles that they have. So it is really a cascading failure, and I think that the only thing, ironically, bipartisan about the bill is bipartisan opposition to the bill. "Caterpillar, a major employer in Illinois and an employer that has a huge impact in our area, in my district, in terms of manufacturers that sell to Caterpillar. They say it's going to cost that single company alone $100 million. Think about that within the context of unemployment in Illinois. Caterpillar has $100 million that they're not going to be able to use in other elements of their company to create new positions and to create jobs, but instead they're going to be foisted on this cost. And I think that is manifesting itself in hundreds of other companies throughout Illinois. "(If it hadn't passed I would have) put together bipartisan solutions. Let me give you a perfect example: I offered an amendment in the Ways and Means Committee at the end of July which would have changed the way Medicare does business from paying money out and then chasing it down later to see if it's fraudulent, called Pay and Chase, to doing it a different way, and that is like credit card companies do it, real-time data verification that a transaction takes place. It was really undisputed during the course of the hearing on this bill when I was offering it, that it would save Medicare $50 billion. It was swatted away by the majority because they didn't want any Republican amendments, and it was rejected. "About three or four weeks ago, I get a phone call from the White House health care czar who said, 'Congressman, I was going through all the amendments that were offered in the Ways and Means committee by Republicans. Why didn't yours pass? We think that's a great idea.' So what I'm suggesting is, there is incremental changes like going after the fraud piece in Medicare. Like allowing insurance companies to purchase coverage across state lines, something that President Obama has said that he agrees with. Or allowing small businesses to pool together, another area where the President says he agrees with us. Or changing some of the medical liability laws."Democrat Jan Schakowsky of Evanston: Yes"This is an amazing night," Schakowsky said in an interview Sunday night. "President Obama called me to thank me for working so hard on this bill and I thanked him so much for having the tenacity and the courage and the vision to keep fighting for it." Schakowsky made her remarks soon after delivering a passionate speech on the House floor in support of the bill.That it helps women and eliminates preexisting medical conditions as uninsurable reasons, solidified her support. "One of the things is gender rating will be prohibited," she said. "Being a woman is a preexisting condition. Women pay more than men for their healthcare simply because they way we're built - up to about 40 percent more. A woman who is a non-smoker and 40, pays more than a 40-year-old male smoker. They say we use healthcare more and we're just more expensive and so women have to pay more, despite women earning less and depending on their spouse for healthcare."She also said Americans will feel a swift impact from the bill's passage."Immediately, these lifetime caps will end, the annual caps will end," she said. "If you're under 26 years old, you'll be able to stay on your parents' policy. I think that all of the myths and all of the doomsday scenarios that are being painted on the floor are going to disappear; I think all of those concerns are going to fade away. Hyperbole that is so ridiculous, when in fact a lot of the things said about Medicare in 1965, the very same things are being said tonight. There is hardly any American that would say Medicare is a bad program. It has lifted so many older people and people with disabilities from poverty."bull; Compiled by Steve Zalusky, Lenore T. Adkins and Deborah DonovanFalse410616Melissa Bean False