[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12746]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LETTER FROM A CONSTITUENT

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor with a letter from a 
constituent, a businessman, and I will just read parts of it:

       I did not need to read about the ObamaCare health insurance 
     tax increase that will be passed on to small businesses. It 
     has already happened to my small firm. Last week I was 
     advised by my insurance agent that Blue Cross and Blue Shield 
     of Illinois is increasing my rates by more than 38 percent.
       I want to relay to you that due to a decrease in business, 
     likely caused by uncertainty of our future, I have had to 
     release one employee and have advised all remaining employees 
     that the increase of health insurance premiums will be passed 
     on to them. I was proudly able to pay 100 percent of 
     employees' health care coverage, but after two consecutive 20 
     percent increases in the last two years, and the latest 40 
     percent increase, simple business logic requires that I pass 
     on this increase or simply go out of business. My employees 
     will have less take-home pay under ObamaCare. Does anyone in 
     Congress realize that under this still uncertain program, it 
     is more logical for me to shut down my business and take the 
     subsidies on one of the exchanges than to remain open?

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