FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Contact: Graeme Zielinski, (312) 980-9128, Graeme.Zielinski@seiuhcil.org

SPRINGFIELD – Following is the statement of SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Keith Kelleher in response to Wednesday’s vote on House Bill 2482 regarding the scoring used to determine whether low-income seniors and people with disabilities qualify for home healthcare:

“This vote provides necessary protections to seniors and people with disabilities who were being forced by the Rauner administration into long-term care or nursing homes and placed in positions that threatened their health and welfare. Kicking 34,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities to the curb was downright cruel. And it was shameless  for the Rauner administration to do so administratively when they knew they could not possibly achieve this end through proper legislative channels.

“It’s a shame that this vote was needed in the first place and hopefully serves as a lesson that, in bipartisan fashion, the people of Illinois are not prepared to sacrifice the welfare of our most vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities to a cheap and unprincipled political agenda.”

Four Republican House members voted for the legislation including State Representatives: Mark Batinick, Sheri Jesiel, Michael McAuliffe, and Terri Bryant.

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