Coalition seeks better
health care
Norma Mendoza , mailto:nmendoza@theintelligencer.com
-------------------------
326 groups have a
common goal
A coalition of diverse groups is organizing throughout the state of Illinois to
ensure fulfillment and implementation of the Illinois Health Care Justice Act
of 2004.
The Health Care
Justice Act was signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in August. It contains
a mandate to the General Assembly to enact a health care access plan by Dec.
31, 2006, and to implement it by July 1, 2007. The plan would guarantee
accessible, affordable, quality health care to all Illinoisans.
It is legislation
that should have been announced with a fanfare.
It is the first time
in the history of Illinois that a plan to provide health care for everyone was
approved.
The Campaign for
Better Health Care (CBHC) was founded in 1989 on the belief that accessible,
affordable, quality health care is a basic human right for all people and the
coalition has been working toward that goal ever since.
The coalition
includes 326 diverse organizations that would have been considered strange
bedfellows just a few years ago. In addition to a strong union component
including the AFL-CIO, there are groups such as the Illinois Hospital
Association, the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, United Healthcare
insurance, both the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation
of Teachers and the League of Women Voters.
Other organizations
represent seniors, community groups, social service and people with
disabilities.
In Granite City
Thursday night, Jim Duffet, CBHC executive director, met with more than a dozen
leaders from the United Steelworkers of America, AFSCME, PACE, SOAR and the
United Congregations of Metro East to discuss strategy.
Under the Act, a
task force is being put together consisting of 34 members, including five
appointed by the governor, and six each by the majority and minority leaders in
both Houses, plus as non-voting members the directors of the Departments of
Public Health, Aging, Public Aid, Insurance and Human Services.
The Health Care Task
Force will schedule public hearings in each Congressional District between now
and Nov. 30. The coalition urges people throughout the state to attend the
public hearings and let their stories about health care become a part of the
record.
Duffet said nearly
one out of three people in Illinois is uninsured and nearly 76 percent of the
uninsured are workers. Part-time workers and the self-employed are more likely
to be uninsured than full-time workers, but Illinoisans who work for small
firms are also likely to be uninsured.
Most people who have
health insurance have it through their employers who are finding it more and
more difficult to keep up with the ever-increasing costs of premiums.
Duffet said when
people are uninsured, everyone ends up paying higher premiums for health
insurance. A wide pool of insured people would spread the cost of treatment
over a broad base.
The Health Care Task
Force will report to the governor and the General Assembly on March 15, 2006,
its recommendation for how the state should proceed with the establishment of a
health care program for all Illinoisans.
Some of the criteria
for such a plan are stated in the Act:
- Provides access to
a full range of preventive, acute, and long-term health care service;
- Maintains and
improves the quality of health care services offered;
- Provides
portability of coverage, regardless of employment status;
- Provides core
benefits for all Illinois residents;
- Contains cost
containment measures and has a cost analysis for each plan; and,
- Promotes
affordable coverage options for small businesses.
As the groups prepared
to leave the meeting with Duffet, they discussed plans for efforts in the area.
"What our
organization would like to do is build a strong coalition in Southern Illinois
with AFSCME, USWA, SEIU and others," Herb Reisinger of UCM said. "If
you look around this room you'll see the numbers represented: the Madison
County Federation of Labor with 31,000 union members, the Southwestern Illinois
federation with 24,000 members and UCM with 20,000. That's 75,000 represented
here tonight."
ŠEdwardsville
Intelligencer 2005