Thanks for clearing way to health care

I want to thank U.S. Rep. Bill Foster for supporting the health reform legislation. There are many aspects of the law that are important to me: guaranteed coverage of every citizen, cost controls, small business tax cuts, improvements in the country's fiscal situation and investments in training health care professionals.

Personally, I am glad that I won't have to worry about preexisting condition coverage. My 10-year-old son has asthma and his medication costs over $1,000 monthly. The first year that he needed this kind of medication was also the first year that I was able to afford health insurance. Since the asthma was a preexisting condition, I was only able to cover the combined premium and medication cost by working 60-70 hour weeks.

During this same year my son was hospitalized for pneumonia, running up a $10,000+ bill. The insurance company paid all the small associated claims, but refused to pay to $10,000 claim because they said the pneumonia was related to his asthma. It took me six months, dozens of phone calls and hours on the phone before the insurance company finally paid the claim.

Thank you, Rep. Foster, for clearing the way so I never have to worry about wasting time getting what I paid for from the insurance companies.

Israel Bentch

North Aurora