Durbin: Public Deserves Coverage Comparable to Congress'

The State Journal-Register
February 25, 2010
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said after Thursday’s healthcare summit that regular Americans deserve health insurance coverage comparable to that offered to members of Congress.

Durbin, the Senate’s assistant majority leader, was one of 38 lawmakers who participated in the bipartisan summit called by President Obama.

“I looked around that room and realized that virtually every member of Congress in that room is part of a health insurance exchange run by the federal government -- with imposed minimum standards on the health insurance companies,” Durbin said in a news conference following the summit. “Our Republican friends who find this so objectionable for the rest of America live with it every day.

“We should offer to the American people the same kind of health insurance coverage that we enjoy as members of Congress,” Durbin said.

During an earlier break in the summit, Durbin told reporters Democrats would pursue health care changes whatever resulted from the meeting.

“If nothing comes of this, we’re going to press forward,” he said. “We just can’t quit.”