With health care at the top of the Obama administration’s agenda and a real opportunity for change by the end of this year, Illinois PIRG has added our voice to the call for reform, focusing on the need to rein in the high cost of care.

Plagued By High Cost

This summer, we researched and released a series of reports on the exploding cost of health care.

One report, “The Small Business Dilemma,” surveyed small business owners on health care. Seventy- eight percent of the owners we surveyed who do not offer coverage to their employees wish they could. Of that group, eighty percent cited health insurance’s high cost as the reason they didn’t offer coverage.

In another report, “The Three Trillion Dollar Question,” we demonstrated that by implementing certain reforms, it would be possible to cut the cost of health care in Illinois by $11 5 billion over a decade and $3 trillion nationwide. These reforms include streamlining the billing process and offering a public option to compete with private insurance companies.

Harry Shows What Hurt

On September 8, we unveiled Healthcare Harry, our humansized version of the kids’ game Operation, at a press conference in Chicago to get our message across to the representatives from Illinois who may prove to be deciding votes on reform.

“Americans know costs are out of control,” said Illinois PIRG Field Organizer Kate Lehman. “But what’s causing skyrocketing premiums? Health Care Harry points out what’s wrong with health care. High premiums have emptied his wallet, he’s choking on red tape, and he’s getting the door slammed on him for his pre-existing heart condition.”