- Champaign County Health Care Consumers - https://www.healthcareconsumers.org -

Illinois WILL expand Medicaid in 2014!

With the close of the Illinois General Assembly’s Spring Legislative Session on Friday, Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is excited to announce that SB 26 passed the Illinois General Assembly and Illinois WILL be expanding Medicaid in 2014!

SB 26: MEDICAID EXPANSION

SB 26 expands Medicaid to include ALL low-income residents who earn less than 139% of the Federal Poverty Level (about $15,000 for an individual) as of January 1, 2014. Currently,being low-income is not enough to qualify for Medicaid in Illinois — you must also be a child under age 19, a pregnant woman, a parent of minor children, have a disability, and/or be 65 years of age or older. But starting in 2014, under the health reform law and because of SB 26, Illinois is expanding the Medicaid program so that anyone who earns less than 139% of the Federal Poverty Level will be eligible through the Marketplace.

Illinois will now be able to provide health care to 342,000more Illinoisans who currently don’t qualify for Medicaid. The federal government will pay 100% of the cost of coverage for the new Medicaid population for the first three years and will continue to pay 90% after 2019.SB 26 will bring an estimated $4.6 billion in new federal spending to Illinois in the first 3 years, resulting in tens of thousands of jobs and new economic security for families.

We are now waiting for Governor Quinn to sign the bill into law.

HB 3227: 2015 ILLINOIS HEALTH Insurance Marketplace

Unfortunately, we will have to wait until the Fall Veto Session for the Illinois House to reconsider HB 3227, which would establish a state-run Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace in 2015.Legislation to this end has been in the works for the last three years and it is unfortunate that the Illinois House could not vote on the amended bill before the end of the session.

But there has been great progress forward.Illinois will have a state-federal partnership Marketplace in 2014 and will have the opportunity to establish a state-run Marketplace for 2015 IF the Illinois General Assembly can pass HB 3227 during November’s Fall Veto Session.

Champaign County Health Care Consumers will be working over the summer and fall to continue our consumer education to help our community get ready for the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace. Open enrollment will begin October 1, 2013 for health insurance coverage starting January 1,2014. In June, we will be sending out information to help YOU prepare for The Marketplace!

Thank you for all of your work to help implement health reform in Illinois.

June 3, 2013