Illinois lawmakers could vote this week to create a state-funded health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act.
Illinois lawmakers could vote this week to create a state-funded health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. However, a state-funded exchange in Illinois would put the health-insurance coverage of thousands of Illinoisans at risk and potentially cost Illinois taxpayers more than $100 million a year.
The Illinois Policy Institute’s Executive Vice President, Kristina Rasmussen, is available for comment on the proposed state-funded exchange and the many risks and challenges involved with creating a health-insurance exchange in Illinois.
Below are some key points Kristina would be able to discuss:
- Creating a state-funded health insurance exchange in Illinois is not the most effective way to provide Illinoisans health-insurance coverage. Many state-funded healthcare exchanges around the country are failing to provide people with access to affordable healthcare. State’s like Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and many others have created health-insurance exchanges that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and have failed to deliver access to affordable health care.
- Illinois’ existing health-insurance campaign has been plagued with investigations for mismanagement. The “Get Covered Illinois” campaign, which was designed to encourage health-insurance signups, has been one of the nation’s most expensive and the subject of multiple investigations. “Get Covered Illinois” went $20 million over budget and fell behind the state’s enrollment goals by more than 100,000 people. Illinois has faced numerous bureaucratic challenges in implementing the Affordable Care Act, creating a massive and expensive new government program is not the way to best serve Illinoisans desperate for health coverage.
- An Illinois state-funded exchange would cost as much as $100 million a year to operate. According to state government’s own estimates, a health-insurance exchange in Illinois could cost taxpayers as much as $100 million annually. The federal government provides funding for establishing a state-funded health insurance exchange, but Illinois would be responsible for operating and maintenance costs. With more than $5 billion in unpaid bills, Illinois cannot afford a new expensive government program that would not serve Illinoisans effectively.
Additional research on Illinois’ state-funded health-insurance exchange is available online here: http://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/the-top-10-reasons-why-illinois-should-reject-a-state-run-health-insurance-exchange/
For interviews: Nathaniel Hamilton or Diana Rickert (312) 607-4977