Last week, Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant held an informational seminar on the Affordable Healthcare Act and how the implementation of the new law may affect people.

Nearly 30 people attended the meeting held at the Edward Plainfield Outpatient Center on Oct. 2 to learn more about the largest reform on healthcare in over 50 years and the coverage that is now being offered to the nearly 2 million Illinoisans without health insurance.

Attendees directed any questions that they had to A.J. Wilhelmi, a former state senator who is now a lobbyist for the Illinois Hospital Association.

The major thing that Mr. Wilhelmi stressed to the group was that all people who do not have some form of health insurance must enroll in the program by January 1. Many people do not understand that enrollment is mandatory for everyone who is uninsured and failure to enroll by the deadline will invoke a penalty.

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Senators Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) and Pat McGuire (D-Joliet) will host a foreclosure prevention workshop Saturday, October 26, 2013 from 9am-1pm at Lewis University, Building 11 (One University Pkwy, Romeoville, IL).  State Representatives Natalie Manley (D-Joliet), Tom Cross (R-Plainfield), Larry Walsh Jr. (D-Joliet) and Emily McAsey (D-Romeoville) will be co-hosting the event.

Nearly 50 workshops of this kind have been held throughout Illinois since 2009 as an initiative of The Mortgage Relief Project (MRP).  MRP is a part of the Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network and is dedicated to providing information and resources that can help homeowners take advantage of programs to lower their mortgages, avoid foreclosure and keep their homes.  IMRP also provides information on legal rights, credit counseling and avoiding scam artists. In addition, homeowners can also take advantage of private, one-on-one housing counseling with HUD-certified counselors during the workshop.

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 Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant has just been appointed by Illinois Senate President John Cullerton to a new committee charged with finding legislative solutions to the state’s growing teen heroin problem.

Over the past decade, heroin use, overdose and death have rapidly spiked in the Chicago suburbs – especially when being used by teenagers and young adults.

“As a lifelong educator, I feel it is my duty to help inform, alert and dissuade the young adults in our communities from experimenting with substances that are so dangerous and pose such significant risks,” Bertino-Tarrant said.  “No level of curiosity or peer pressure is worth dying.”

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Senator Bertino-Tarran is pleased to announce that the Will County Center for Community Concerns has begun registration for energy assistance to income-eligible households as a part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Applications are currently accepted for households that contain a senior receiving Social Security benefits. Today, funding assistance is also available to those whose heating systems have already been disconnected by their utility company and households with children under the age of five.

All other income-eligible households will become eligible on November 1st.  Applications will be accepted through May 31st, 2014 or until all funding has been exhausted.

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