Health Care
ACA and Illinois
- Currently, more than 1.4 million Illinois residents or 13% of Illinois's non-elderly population is uninsured. The Affordable Care Act will provide those who are uninsured as well as those who are underinsured with access to private health plans through Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace or Medicaid.
The Affordable Care Act and People with Existing Insurance
- Insurers must spend at least 80% of your premium dollars on medical care or quality improvements.
The Affordable Care Act Implementation Schedule
- Insurers can no longer drop your coverage when you become sick.
- Insurers can no longer apply lifetime benefit limits to your coverage.
- Insurers may only apply modified annual benefit limits to your coverage.
- Insurers can no longer discriminate against children up to age 19 with preexisting conditions.
- Insurers must spend at least 80% of your premium dollars on health care or quality improvement.
- Insurers must publicly justify rate increases of 10%
The Affordable Care Act : People with Preexisting Conditions
- Insurers can no longer deny coverage or charge higher premiums for preexisting conditions.
- Insurers can no longer apply lifetime benefit limits on your coverage.
- Insurers can only apply modified annual benefit limits on your coverage. Beginning in 2014, insurers are prohibited from applying any annual limits on your benefits.
The Affordable Care Act: Seniors
- The Affordable Care Act doesn't require seniors to do anything through the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace. Medicare beneficiaries will continue to use medicare.gov or 1-800-Medicare for Medicare Part D open enrollment from October 15 through December 7 and any other Medicare questions or concerns.
- Reduces prescription drug costs for seniors. Since the health care law was enacted, more than 6.6 million seniors in the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' coverage gap have saved over $7 billion on prescription drugs.
The Affordable Care Act: Small Businesses, Non-profits
- The Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) allows small businesses and small nonprofits to compare and purchase coverage options on October 1, 2013 for coverage that can begin as early as January 1, 2014.
The Affordable Care Act: Women
- Prevents insurance companies from dropping women when they get sick or become pregnant.
- Improves care for millions of older women with chronic conditions, by providing incentives under Medicare for more coordinated care.
- Over 47 million women with private health insurance are guaranteed free coverage of a range of preventive health services.
The Affordable Care Act: Young Adults, Children
- Allows young adults to stay on their parents' health plans up to their 26th birthday.
The American Diabetes Association® (ADA), the nation's leading organization for all people living with diabetes, announced its support today for the Ending Health Disparities during COVID-19 (EHDC) Act, introduced by Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL).
For months, the ADA has urged Congress to address health disparities exacerbated by the pandemic. This legislation includes important COVID-19 testing and insurance access provisions that would help to bridge these gaps. Among many key objectives, the bill would:
The United States is the only developed nation where the overall maternal mortality rate is on the rise, and black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. In Illinois, the racial disparity is even worse.
Congresswoman Robin Kelly sat down with Reset to talk about the Helping MOMS Act of 2019, a bill she's sponsoring to address maternal health issues.
On why she's pushing to improve maternal health