It’s hard not to notice the out-of-control health insurance cost increases in recent years. Three out of every four individual-market policyholders saw a premium increase from early 2009 to early 2010. Small businesses are particularly hard hit. They now pay 18% more for insurance than their larger competitors and have seen repeated double digit premium increases.
But what can Illinois policymakers do to help Illinois families? Turns out, there’s a lot they can do.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows states to create a health insurance exchange for individuals and small businesses. Much the way a large employer negotiates insurance rates for their employees, an exchange would allow small businesses and individuals the ability to pool their buying power and negotiate a better as well, saving Illinois families billions of dollars.
An exchange works to lower costs because it increases competition and improves the choices customers have in the state’s insurance market. But it only works if the exchange is accountable to the public, and the individual and small business consumers it’s designed to serve, not the special interests.
As policy makers consider an exchange program over the coming months, the consumer advocacy group Illinois PIRG will be highlighting many of the important policy questions in a series of policy briefs.
The first in the series of seven details steps policy-makers can take to ensure that the exchange program is accountable to the public and operates in the best interests of consumers and businesses.
Take a look by going here.
Brian Imus
Illinois PIRG
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
America’s Health Care Law: Providing Security and Opportunity for All
It's been a year since the historic vote that made the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a law, putting America on the path towards a system of quality, affordable health care for all. We have a lot to celebrate as we continue to implement and enforce our consumer protections here in Illinois.
Through the passage of health insurance reform, we have brought some of the most abusive practices of the insurance industry to an end, and instituted new rights and benefits for all. From birth to death, Americans now enjoy health care security and protection in new ways. Already in Illinois:
Now at the one-year mark, the Campaign for Better Health Care and our statewide coalition encourage our elected officials in Springfield to move forward with the implementation of the required components of this new law. Any delay will have a profound negative impact on quality of life for millions of Illinois' working families, children, seniors, individuals and small businesses.
Our State Representatives and State Senators in Springfield need to stand up for the middle class and small businesses, not the insurance industry. Did you know that the top Illinois insurance companies amassed surpluses in excess of $28.3 billion in 2010? Surplus is a company's total assets minus liabilities. In other words, it’s what's left after ALL other possible costs of doing business (including all possible future claims by policyholders, paying dividends to shareholders, etc) are accounted for. Their surpluses increased by an additional $2.5 billion from 2009, even in the current economic conditions we face.
We need to implement and strengthen the health care law at the state level in a few ways. First, let’s institute fair rate review laws as outlined in Representative Greg Harris’s proposal. Rate review means that insurance companies will have to justify their requests for rate increases to the state Department of Insurance and cannot raise your rates unless their request passes this review. Laws similar to this exist in 30 states, but Illinois currently has no oversight mechanism in place.
Rate review increases transparency in the process - insurance companies will have to prove the need to charge their customers more. With more information about the rationale for rate hikes, consumers will be better prepared to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase insurance from a specific company. This will stimulate positive competition in the health insurance marketplace, and benefit consumers by lowering costs.
Second, the Illinois General Assembly needs to begin developing a competitive health insurance marketplace, commonly known as an insurance health exchange. St. Senator Dave Koehler’s proposal begins setting up the competitive health marketplace for Illinois.
The marketplace is voluntary – if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it and not use the marketplace. However, the marketplace is always available in case you want or need it. This approach will give consumers greater control, more choice, improve quality, increase transparency, and create much needed competition in the insurance marketplace.
On this milestone anniversary of new freedom and protection for American health insurance consumers, let's work together to make Illinois' health care laws work for us, not for the obscene and greedy surpluses of insurance companies.
Jim Duffett
Executive Director, Campaign for Better Health Care
Through the passage of health insurance reform, we have brought some of the most abusive practices of the insurance industry to an end, and instituted new rights and benefits for all. From birth to death, Americans now enjoy health care security and protection in new ways. Already in Illinois:
- 47,200 young adults in Illinois are now eligible to stay on their parents’ coverage through age 26
- Tens of thousands of small businesses receive tax credits that help them offer their employees coverage
- 7.5 million people in our state no longer need to worry about hitting a lifetime cap on benefits because of the ACA
- 612,000 Illinoisans will not have their insurance coverage rescinded when they get sick and need it most
- 1.8 million seniors are now eligible for free wellness care, and 109,421 of them received help in meeting the costs of their prescription drugs while in the Medicare Part D coverage gap
Now at the one-year mark, the Campaign for Better Health Care and our statewide coalition encourage our elected officials in Springfield to move forward with the implementation of the required components of this new law. Any delay will have a profound negative impact on quality of life for millions of Illinois' working families, children, seniors, individuals and small businesses.
Our State Representatives and State Senators in Springfield need to stand up for the middle class and small businesses, not the insurance industry. Did you know that the top Illinois insurance companies amassed surpluses in excess of $28.3 billion in 2010? Surplus is a company's total assets minus liabilities. In other words, it’s what's left after ALL other possible costs of doing business (including all possible future claims by policyholders, paying dividends to shareholders, etc) are accounted for. Their surpluses increased by an additional $2.5 billion from 2009, even in the current economic conditions we face.
We need to implement and strengthen the health care law at the state level in a few ways. First, let’s institute fair rate review laws as outlined in Representative Greg Harris’s proposal. Rate review means that insurance companies will have to justify their requests for rate increases to the state Department of Insurance and cannot raise your rates unless their request passes this review. Laws similar to this exist in 30 states, but Illinois currently has no oversight mechanism in place.
Rate review increases transparency in the process - insurance companies will have to prove the need to charge their customers more. With more information about the rationale for rate hikes, consumers will be better prepared to make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase insurance from a specific company. This will stimulate positive competition in the health insurance marketplace, and benefit consumers by lowering costs.
Second, the Illinois General Assembly needs to begin developing a competitive health insurance marketplace, commonly known as an insurance health exchange. St. Senator Dave Koehler’s proposal begins setting up the competitive health marketplace for Illinois.
The marketplace is voluntary – if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it and not use the marketplace. However, the marketplace is always available in case you want or need it. This approach will give consumers greater control, more choice, improve quality, increase transparency, and create much needed competition in the insurance marketplace.
On this milestone anniversary of new freedom and protection for American health insurance consumers, let's work together to make Illinois' health care laws work for us, not for the obscene and greedy surpluses of insurance companies.
Jim Duffett
Executive Director, Campaign for Better Health Care
Friday, 25 March 2011
Gov. Pat Quinn Gives Illinois Health Care Reform a Big, Fat Push Forward
In 2010, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that President Barack Obama's new health reform would save the state budget $365 million over the next five years.
In 2011, newly-inaugurated Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, despite a gaping budget deficit, ordered the state Attorney General to add Wisconsin to list of states suing in federal court to overturn the new health insurance law.
And so it goes with our northern neighbor, whose governor is giving the term "crank" a good name by comparison.
In Illinois, however, on the one-year anniversary of the new federal health law, Governor Pat Quinn has been blazing forward to implement its provisions. In fact, since taking office, Quinn has been on tear to reform Illinois health care more broadly.
Since March 23, 2010, the federal government has awarded $89.4 million in health reform funding to Illinois, and the law has delivered to 151,922 Illinois Medicare beneficiaries a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate to help pay for prescriptions in the "donut hole" coverage gap. In 2011, they will receive a 50% discount for covered brand-name prescriptions in the hole.
By August 20, 2010 Quinn had opened enrollment for the Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan to provide transitional coverage until 2014 for 5,000 Illinois residents who are currently uninsured with pre-existing conditions. So, far 2,000 individuals have filed applications and 943 have secured coverage.
One of those is David Zoltan, 33, of Chicago.
"As a diabetic of 25 years, I can breathe easier for the first time since I lost my insurance two years ago," said Zoltan.
Between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals will be covered under the state's Medicaid program with full federal funding. An additional 200,000 to 300,000 people will purchase their insurance through the health insurance exchange, with premiums subsidized by the federal government.
To fully implement the law here, Quinn's Health Care Reform Implementation Council, which held five public hearings since the governor established the panel on July 30, 2010, rolled out its first set of recommendations a few weeks ago on March 2, 2011, including calls for the state regulators be given the authority to approve or deny health insurance rate increases, and that insurance companies be required to spend at least 80% of premiums on health care for policy-holders. Those steps will require legislative approval.
"Governor Quinn has directed the state agencies that will play a role in implementing health care reform to work together to deliver on the promise of the Affordable Care Act," said Michael Gelder, chair of the council and Governor Quinn's senior health policy adviser.
In addition to the federal health reform, Quinn has acted on multiple other fronts to reshape Illinois health care, including electronic health records, Medicaid reform, private managed care, and chronic disease management, to name several.
On July 27, 2010, Quinn signed legislation, House Bill 6441, that will allow health care providers and insurers to share health records electronically. The law will provide providers with a secure system to access a patient's comprehensive medical history, avoid duplicate tests and procedures, and assure the accuracy of prescription drugs and other medical orders.
Medical information sharing is already saving Illinois big money. The state's medical home program, which centralizes patient information around one home base and one primary care provider, saved the state $220 million over 2008 and 2009, according to a recent study from the Robert Graham Center.
On January 25, 2011, Quinn overhauled the state's Medicaid program by signing a new law, House Bill 5420, which aims to expand coordinated care in Illinois, improving the efficiency of the prescription drug program, tightening the integrity of the eligibility process and increasing civil penalties for recipients who abuse the system. The reforms are expected to save $774 million over five years.
Quinn has also launched a private managed care pilot project for approximately 38,000 seniors and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries from Northeastern Illinois. The new program will save the state an estimated $200 million over the next five years, according to Quinn Administration estimates.
"We embarked on this initiative -- which was recommended by the Taxpayer Action Board -- to increase government efficiency and improve care for seniors and persons with disabilities," said Quinn.
And on January 25, 2011, Quinn approved another measure, House Bill 1444, that created the Chronic Disease Nutrition and Outcomes Advisory Commission. This panel, once the governor makes the appointments, will advise the Illinois Department of Public Health on how to incorporate nutrition as a chronic disease management strategy into state health policy, aiming to avoid costly Medicaid hospitalizations and to measure health care outcomes.
The commission, the brainchild of Deborah Hinde, the president and CEO of Chicago-based non-profit Vital Bridges that provides food and nutrition counseling to individuals with HIV/AIDS, will aim to develop a state nutrition strategy in chronic disease management, particularly for Medicaid-insured patients, given the treatment of chronic disease represents 80¢ of every dollar spent on health care.
"Medically appropriate nutrition can slow chronic disease progression, avert disability, minimize intensive health care utilization, and decrease costs to the state," said Hinde. "Because a state nutrition strategy can drive down Medicaid costs and improve health out comes, Governor Quinn was wise and forward-looking to sign this bill."
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, small business owner Martin Huennenkens, owner of Pilgrim Imports Inc., a Milwaukee wholesale company, is looking for Quinn-like gubernatorial wisdom on health care reform. "I feel like health care reform would at least give me a more level playing field," Huennenkens said. "I would love if the government would push more people in what I consider this good and correct direction."
Martin, Illinois is open for business.
David Ornsby
Public relations consultant and political strategist
(Originally posted in the Huffington Post Blog)
In 2011, newly-inaugurated Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, despite a gaping budget deficit, ordered the state Attorney General to add Wisconsin to list of states suing in federal court to overturn the new health insurance law.
And so it goes with our northern neighbor, whose governor is giving the term "crank" a good name by comparison.
In Illinois, however, on the one-year anniversary of the new federal health law, Governor Pat Quinn has been blazing forward to implement its provisions. In fact, since taking office, Quinn has been on tear to reform Illinois health care more broadly.
Since March 23, 2010, the federal government has awarded $89.4 million in health reform funding to Illinois, and the law has delivered to 151,922 Illinois Medicare beneficiaries a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate to help pay for prescriptions in the "donut hole" coverage gap. In 2011, they will receive a 50% discount for covered brand-name prescriptions in the hole.
By August 20, 2010 Quinn had opened enrollment for the Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan to provide transitional coverage until 2014 for 5,000 Illinois residents who are currently uninsured with pre-existing conditions. So, far 2,000 individuals have filed applications and 943 have secured coverage.
One of those is David Zoltan, 33, of Chicago.
"As a diabetic of 25 years, I can breathe easier for the first time since I lost my insurance two years ago," said Zoltan.
Between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals will be covered under the state's Medicaid program with full federal funding. An additional 200,000 to 300,000 people will purchase their insurance through the health insurance exchange, with premiums subsidized by the federal government.
To fully implement the law here, Quinn's Health Care Reform Implementation Council, which held five public hearings since the governor established the panel on July 30, 2010, rolled out its first set of recommendations a few weeks ago on March 2, 2011, including calls for the state regulators be given the authority to approve or deny health insurance rate increases, and that insurance companies be required to spend at least 80% of premiums on health care for policy-holders. Those steps will require legislative approval.
"Governor Quinn has directed the state agencies that will play a role in implementing health care reform to work together to deliver on the promise of the Affordable Care Act," said Michael Gelder, chair of the council and Governor Quinn's senior health policy adviser.
In addition to the federal health reform, Quinn has acted on multiple other fronts to reshape Illinois health care, including electronic health records, Medicaid reform, private managed care, and chronic disease management, to name several.
On July 27, 2010, Quinn signed legislation, House Bill 6441, that will allow health care providers and insurers to share health records electronically. The law will provide providers with a secure system to access a patient's comprehensive medical history, avoid duplicate tests and procedures, and assure the accuracy of prescription drugs and other medical orders.
Medical information sharing is already saving Illinois big money. The state's medical home program, which centralizes patient information around one home base and one primary care provider, saved the state $220 million over 2008 and 2009, according to a recent study from the Robert Graham Center.
On January 25, 2011, Quinn overhauled the state's Medicaid program by signing a new law, House Bill 5420, which aims to expand coordinated care in Illinois, improving the efficiency of the prescription drug program, tightening the integrity of the eligibility process and increasing civil penalties for recipients who abuse the system. The reforms are expected to save $774 million over five years.
Quinn has also launched a private managed care pilot project for approximately 38,000 seniors and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries from Northeastern Illinois. The new program will save the state an estimated $200 million over the next five years, according to Quinn Administration estimates.
"We embarked on this initiative -- which was recommended by the Taxpayer Action Board -- to increase government efficiency and improve care for seniors and persons with disabilities," said Quinn.
And on January 25, 2011, Quinn approved another measure, House Bill 1444, that created the Chronic Disease Nutrition and Outcomes Advisory Commission. This panel, once the governor makes the appointments, will advise the Illinois Department of Public Health on how to incorporate nutrition as a chronic disease management strategy into state health policy, aiming to avoid costly Medicaid hospitalizations and to measure health care outcomes.
The commission, the brainchild of Deborah Hinde, the president and CEO of Chicago-based non-profit Vital Bridges that provides food and nutrition counseling to individuals with HIV/AIDS, will aim to develop a state nutrition strategy in chronic disease management, particularly for Medicaid-insured patients, given the treatment of chronic disease represents 80¢ of every dollar spent on health care.
"Medically appropriate nutrition can slow chronic disease progression, avert disability, minimize intensive health care utilization, and decrease costs to the state," said Hinde. "Because a state nutrition strategy can drive down Medicaid costs and improve health out comes, Governor Quinn was wise and forward-looking to sign this bill."
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, small business owner Martin Huennenkens, owner of Pilgrim Imports Inc., a Milwaukee wholesale company, is looking for Quinn-like gubernatorial wisdom on health care reform. "I feel like health care reform would at least give me a more level playing field," Huennenkens said. "I would love if the government would push more people in what I consider this good and correct direction."
Martin, Illinois is open for business.
David Ornsby
Public relations consultant and political strategist
(Originally posted in the Huffington Post Blog)
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Affordable Care Act Anniversary
America's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, turns one year old on March 23rd. That's good news for Illinois' four-year-olds -- and forty-four-year-olds, and lots of other Illinoisans too. That's because the law imposes consumer protections on the hugely unregulated health insurance industry, and promises to cover over half of the uninsured by allowing states to create insurance marketplaces that provide transparent, comprehensive, affordable health plan choices; makes federal subsidies available to ensure middle class families won't break the bank to pay for their plans, and expands Medicaid to low-income adults.
Illinois' leaders have worked hard to build a track record of success on access to health insurance coverage. Democrats and Republicans have put partisan politics aside and worked together to reform Medicaid and to enact consumer protections in the private insurance industry, such as dependent care coverage for young adults. Now it's time for our leaders in Springfield to again make some critical decisions -- this time about how the Affordable Care Act works in Illinois. And we all have a role in ensuring that the law works for Illinois' families and individuals.
The Affordable Care Act has already delivered important wins for Illinois' residents. Illinoisans diagnosed with cancer or other serious conditions can no longer be denied care because of annual or lifetime insurance limits and insurers cannot deny coverage outright for children. Parents can keep their college-aged children on their family health insurance policies. And Illinoisans with private insurance can get the screenings and check-ups they need to stay healthy, without the out-of-pocket costs that encourage fix-it care instead of health care.
And the Affordable Care Act can deliver even bigger wins for Illinois in the coming years. It authorizes new insurance marketplaces or "exchanges," to make private insurance work better. Exchange subsidies can make care more affordable for middle-class families. The law authorizes improvements to Medicaid that can make health care a reality for hundreds of thousands more Illinoisans who are uninsured today.
But these gains for Illinois' families and individuals are not automatic. Our leaders in Springfield will make decisions over the next few years that will have consequences for decades to come. They will decide whether Illinois' exchange provides adequate access to health care for patients, families and employers in Illinois in a manner that is in the best interest of such individuals, and they'll decide whether the exchange offers coverage parents can afford.
They'll decide whether insurance consumer protections actually work and whether Medicaid reaches more uninsured Illinoisans, or whether they will be left behind. And they'll make dozens of other decisions that will determine how -- or even if -- the Affordable Care Act works for Illinois.
Every Illinois resident who cares about their access to health care can help our leaders in Springfield make the right choices. Policymakers need to hear that it's time to embrace Illinois' long-standing tradition of putting access to health care ahead of partisan politics. They need to hear that the cost of failure is too high. They need to hear that they must keep implementation moving forward, and that making the right choices for Illinoisans is the best way to define success.
The Affordable Care Act's first birthday is the perfect time to send a strong message to Illinois' leaders. If we get off the sidelines and into the game today, Illinois will be the big winner.
Andrea Kovach
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
(Originally posted in Huffington Post Chicago Blog)
Illinois' leaders have worked hard to build a track record of success on access to health insurance coverage. Democrats and Republicans have put partisan politics aside and worked together to reform Medicaid and to enact consumer protections in the private insurance industry, such as dependent care coverage for young adults. Now it's time for our leaders in Springfield to again make some critical decisions -- this time about how the Affordable Care Act works in Illinois. And we all have a role in ensuring that the law works for Illinois' families and individuals.
The Affordable Care Act has already delivered important wins for Illinois' residents. Illinoisans diagnosed with cancer or other serious conditions can no longer be denied care because of annual or lifetime insurance limits and insurers cannot deny coverage outright for children. Parents can keep their college-aged children on their family health insurance policies. And Illinoisans with private insurance can get the screenings and check-ups they need to stay healthy, without the out-of-pocket costs that encourage fix-it care instead of health care.
And the Affordable Care Act can deliver even bigger wins for Illinois in the coming years. It authorizes new insurance marketplaces or "exchanges," to make private insurance work better. Exchange subsidies can make care more affordable for middle-class families. The law authorizes improvements to Medicaid that can make health care a reality for hundreds of thousands more Illinoisans who are uninsured today.
But these gains for Illinois' families and individuals are not automatic. Our leaders in Springfield will make decisions over the next few years that will have consequences for decades to come. They will decide whether Illinois' exchange provides adequate access to health care for patients, families and employers in Illinois in a manner that is in the best interest of such individuals, and they'll decide whether the exchange offers coverage parents can afford.
They'll decide whether insurance consumer protections actually work and whether Medicaid reaches more uninsured Illinoisans, or whether they will be left behind. And they'll make dozens of other decisions that will determine how -- or even if -- the Affordable Care Act works for Illinois.
Every Illinois resident who cares about their access to health care can help our leaders in Springfield make the right choices. Policymakers need to hear that it's time to embrace Illinois' long-standing tradition of putting access to health care ahead of partisan politics. They need to hear that the cost of failure is too high. They need to hear that they must keep implementation moving forward, and that making the right choices for Illinoisans is the best way to define success.
The Affordable Care Act's first birthday is the perfect time to send a strong message to Illinois' leaders. If we get off the sidelines and into the game today, Illinois will be the big winner.
Andrea Kovach
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
(Originally posted in Huffington Post Chicago Blog)
Health Care Reform Anniversary - It's Personal
Today is the one year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. No matter who you are, you know someone who has benefited or will benefit from this law. I am no different. At Health & Disability Advocates, every year we talk to hundreds of clients who are in need of access to medical care that they have been denied because of a pre-existing condition. For example, there is Haley White, a 22 yr old young woman from Wauconda, IL, who as a result of Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager, could not get insurance and faced crushing debt from periodic hospitalizations. As of March 1, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, she is on the Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan and can get the tests she needs to monitor her health.
This client case, in particular, is personal to me. In March 1995, when I was 25 my boyfriend (then a graduate student) was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Time stopped as our realities shifted from making plans for our future together to making plans for oncologist visits, biopsies, stem cell transplants. We moved through what seemed like a nightmare. In retrospect, we didn't even realize how lucky we were. We didn't have to think once about whether or not he would be able to pay for his appointments or get the life-saving treatments he needed: he was a student and was covered by his university's (as it turns out generous) health insurance plan.
Fast forward 16 years -- the boyfriend is now my husband (who has been in remission since 1995). Over the past 16 years, I have thanked his doctors, our parents, family and friends for their care and support during that difficult time. I never thought to thank his university for providing such amazing health insurance. I didn't realize how fortunate we were. Now that I'm in the health care field and have my own children, I think about that all of the time. I think about the Haley Whites of the world who didn't have health insurance and had to worry about her health AND her health care. It shouldn't have to be that way.
Imagine if you or someone you know -- a relative, neighbor or friend -- was diagnosed with a disease and then was denied health coverage years later because of it. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it doesn't have to be that way anymore.
Stephani Becker
Health & Disability Advocates
This client case, in particular, is personal to me. In March 1995, when I was 25 my boyfriend (then a graduate student) was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Time stopped as our realities shifted from making plans for our future together to making plans for oncologist visits, biopsies, stem cell transplants. We moved through what seemed like a nightmare. In retrospect, we didn't even realize how lucky we were. We didn't have to think once about whether or not he would be able to pay for his appointments or get the life-saving treatments he needed: he was a student and was covered by his university's (as it turns out generous) health insurance plan.
Fast forward 16 years -- the boyfriend is now my husband (who has been in remission since 1995). Over the past 16 years, I have thanked his doctors, our parents, family and friends for their care and support during that difficult time. I never thought to thank his university for providing such amazing health insurance. I didn't realize how fortunate we were. Now that I'm in the health care field and have my own children, I think about that all of the time. I think about the Haley Whites of the world who didn't have health insurance and had to worry about her health AND her health care. It shouldn't have to be that way.
Imagine if you or someone you know -- a relative, neighbor or friend -- was diagnosed with a disease and then was denied health coverage years later because of it. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it doesn't have to be that way anymore.
Stephani Becker
Health & Disability Advocates
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Commonwealth Survey Underscores Need to Move Forward on ACA and Hold Steady on Medicaid & CHIP
A survey released today by the Commonwealth Fund underscores the need for states to hold steady in their commitment to health insurance programs such as Medicaid and CHIP while families struggle to find solid footing in the aftermath of the recession. It also provides solid evidence that 2014 and full implementation of the Affordable Care Act can't come soon enough for those trying to find stable, affordable health insurance coverage that won't disappear when they lose a job or become sick or injured.
The Commonwealth Fund 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey found that about 9 million people lost their jobs and their health benefits last year putting their financial security and access to health care at risk.
The survey also found:
- Few affordable insurance options are available for the newly uninsured. Because access to Medicaid coverage for adults is limited in most states and few people enroll in COBRA, many have had to turn to the individual market to meet their health needs.
- Most adults who tried to buy health insurance on the individual market faced roadblocks such as higher premiums or benefit exclusions due to a pre-existing condition. Many were turned down.
- Seventy-five million adults did not get needed health care in 2010 (a 60 percent increase from 2001). This included insured adults struggling to pay for higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs as well as uninsured adults.
- Seventy-three million people reported problems paying their medical bills or were paying off medical debt, up from 58 million in 2005. Of those, 22 million were unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat and rent. About 4 million of them declared bankruptcy.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Why We Must Save Illinois Cares Rx
Governor Quinn's proposed budget includes the elimination of the entire Illinois Cares Rx program, which provides prescription drug assistance to low income seniors and people with disabilities.
The benefits of the Illinois Cares Rx Program to its enrollees are crucial to their health and well-being. Without this assistance, many seniors and people with disabilities on fixed incomes will not be able to afford their needed medications. They will be forced to ration their medications or make choices between paying for rent, food, or medications. There simply is not a lot of “wiggle room” in their budgets to take on the cost of what the Illinois Cares Rx Program provides.
For most, Illinois Cares Rx is a benefit that assists in paying the premium and initial co-pays under Medicare Part D, which can get extremely high, especially if a person is taking several medications. For Illinois Cares Rx enrollees, this assistance has literally meant the difference between going with or without their medications. In addition to the Part D premium, Illinois Cares Rx pays the deductible ($310 this year) and helps with the co-pays; each prescription filled costs much less with this coverage (e.g., $6.30 instead of $50). It is an enormous savings, especially valuable for individuals with multiple health problems and multiple medications, which is common among Illinois Cares Rx consumers.
A few important things to know about Illinois Cares Rx:
John Coburn
Co-Director, Make Medicare Work Coalition
The benefits of the Illinois Cares Rx Program to its enrollees are crucial to their health and well-being. Without this assistance, many seniors and people with disabilities on fixed incomes will not be able to afford their needed medications. They will be forced to ration their medications or make choices between paying for rent, food, or medications. There simply is not a lot of “wiggle room” in their budgets to take on the cost of what the Illinois Cares Rx Program provides.
For most, Illinois Cares Rx is a benefit that assists in paying the premium and initial co-pays under Medicare Part D, which can get extremely high, especially if a person is taking several medications. For Illinois Cares Rx enrollees, this assistance has literally meant the difference between going with or without their medications. In addition to the Part D premium, Illinois Cares Rx pays the deductible ($310 this year) and helps with the co-pays; each prescription filled costs much less with this coverage (e.g., $6.30 instead of $50). It is an enormous savings, especially valuable for individuals with multiple health problems and multiple medications, which is common among Illinois Cares Rx consumers.
A few important things to know about Illinois Cares Rx:
- Illinois Cares Rx serves approximately 200,000 low income older adults and people with disabilities each year to pay for necessary and costly medications.
- Governor Quinn has proposed eliminating the entire program without seeking cost savings from other measures first.
- The health care reform law - the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - does not fix the problem that Illinois Cares Rx addresses. The ACA only addresses the Medicare Part D donut hole by closing that gap slowly over the next several years. Low-income older adults and people with disabilities in Illinois still need help paying for premiums, co-pays and donut hole coverage in 2011 and beyond. In other words, even if the donut hole were closed this year, low income seniors and people with disabilities would STILL need Illinois Cares Rx.
John Coburn
Co-Director, Make Medicare Work Coalition
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