I will support affordable, quality healthcare for all Illinois citizens such as is proposed in Single Payer Healthcare Bill HB311.  This Bill takes a crucial step toward addressing the needs of the approximately 1.7 million citizens’ uninsured living in Illinois.  Those citizens’ lack of health care costs the people of Illinois through lost lives, lost productivity, and higher hospital and doctors bills for all patients to cover the costs of the uninsured.  As a matter of public health, the state of Illinois should use its power of regulation over insurance companies to ensure that all citizens have access to quality affordable health care, and that claims are not capriciously denied or delayed by insurance companies, effectively precluding coverage for critically ill citizens.