FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Iowa Main Street Alliance Members to Attend President Obama’s Speech in Iowa City Thursday
** To schedule interviews with small business owners who will be attending the President’s health care address, contact Sue Dinsdale at 515-480-3240 **Attending small business people include:
Bill Nusser of Hands Jewelry, Iowa City
ReShonda Young of Alpha Express, Inc., Waterloo
Mike Draper of RAYGUN, Des Moines
Natalie Dinsdale, Cosmetologist, Ames
Chris Petersen, Family Farmer, Clear Lake
Iowa City, IA. Wednesday, March 24, 2010 -– A delegation of Iowa small business owners has been invited to attend the President’s speech on health reform scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Iowa City. As members of the Iowa Main Street Alliance, these business owners represent over 500 small businesses in Iowa who have been working for health care reform for the past 20 months.
The delegation represents a diverse set of businesses: a family-owned transportation and exterior maintenance company, a retail jeweler, a family farmer, a thriving t-shirt enterprise, and a self-employed cosmetologist.
ReShonda Young, who serves as Operations Manager for her family business, Alpha Express, Inc in Waterloo and is a leading voice in the Main Street Alliance, said, “Small businesses across Iowa and across the country are grateful to Congress for acting on health care that will rein in costs, increase competition and give us real choices.”
Young speaks from experience through her role at Alpha Express. “Finding a way to provide health insurance has always been something that’s important to us. We have long-time employees who are like family members to us. This makes it especially important that our employees are healthy and well taken care of. Some nights I lay awake just worrying about health care.”
“I have been uninsured, under-insured and am now ‘fully’ insured,” said Mike Draper, owner of RAYGUN, a retail business from Des Moines. “As a small business owner, I am looking forward to health care reform. The bill the President signed on Tuesday is a great start, addressing the need for basic regulation, transparent pricing, and coverage rules.”
After years of basically being “uninsurable,” Clear Lake farmer Chris Petersen said, “The self-employed will now be able to shop for health coverage in the insurance exchanges and benefit from the increased transparency and competition there. My wife and I are currently in Iowa’s high risk insurance pool where we pay over $1,300 a month for a policy that barely covers anything and has a $1,000 deductible. With the passage of this historic reform, we’re looking at sliding scale premium affordability credits and caps on out-of-pocket costs that will provide real assistance and security for us and for many other self-employed people and their families.”
The Iowa Main Street Alliance is a coalition member of the national Main Street Alliance network, which includes active small business coalitions in a dozen states.
Contact:
Sue Dinsdale
(515) 480-3240
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Main Street Alliance small business health care and Health Care for American Now
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About ICAN
Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN) is a grassroots public interest organization and progressive political coalition committed to creating social change in Iowa and across the nation. ICAN has united Iowa's progressives for over 30 years and is leading efforts to change the public climate for progressive change. ICAN has nearly 40 organizational affiliates from a wide range of constituencies, including religious, community, labor, senior, family farm and environmental organizations, and over 6,000 individual members.