Victor Forys

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For Victor Forys and his family, a desire for change brought them to America from Poland when he was just four years old. Dr. Victor Forys' parents believed that by hard work they could ensure a better future for their family. That hard work and the care they felt for their new community in Chicago gave the Forys family the chance to make a difference.

Thanks to his parents' strong belief in education, Dr. Victor Forys completed his education, graduating from Lane Tech, the University of Illinois at Chicago and medical school. After graduating from medical school in 1983, Dr. Victor Forys worked as a resident physician at Ravenswood Hospital, until starting a private practice.

While attending graduate school in Poland, Dr.Victor Forys participated in student demonstrations and protests against the Communist government and was a student organizer and activist during the Solidarity protests of the 1980s.

Upon returning to the United States, Dr. Victor Forys practiced medicine in Southern Illinois, eventually moving back to and opening up his own practice on the Northwest Side of Chicago, where he currently has more than 10,000 patients who live in the Fifth Congressional District. Besides being a community-based medical doctor, he has been a regular commentator on health care issues in the Polish media for more than fifteen years.

The Congress and President - Elect Obama need to pass an economic stimulus package immediately. Our country is in an economic downturn the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression. Our businesses, small and large, are struggling. Employees of these companies are feeling the effects – lower wages, reduced hours or even layoffs.

The economic strength of the United States is our greatest asset. We must do all that we can to strengthen our economy and get people back to work. A large economic stimulus package, as President – Elect Obama has outlined, focused on public investment in infrastructure is a strong start to getting our economy back on track.

We cannot stop with a stimulus package. Businesses and employees need help too. Businesses need access to credit to make payrolls, buy equipment and purchase raw goods. The “Bailout” this past fall did not open the credit markets as hoped. Banks that received funds are not lending and businesses are suffering.

As a Physician and small businessman, Dr. Forys has created jobs knows how to make a payroll and what it takes to be successful managing a business.

Small businesses need help. Victor Forys believes that we must help them create jobs. The U.S Government should help small and medium sized businesses by providing tax credits for funds expended to purchase basic health care for their employees.

Standardization of health insurance policies would make that possible. Only the basic health insurance plan would be credited. If companies want to provide more health benefits than contained in the basic plan, they would be able to do so, but would not receive a tax credit for the extra expenditure.

This would make the U.S more competitive in international trade because all of our main trade competitors, the industrialized counties of the world subsidize their industry by providing health care to workers free of charge to those companies.

A portable and consistent health insurance policy, regardless of work status, would allow individuals the freedom to start small businesses without the fear of being uninsured. Many workers stay in jobs they do not like simply because they have good health benefits. Unhappy workers are non-productive workers.