Illinois Health Matters, March 4, 2008

Welcome to the first issue of Illinois Health Matters, a Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law newsletter that describes health care in Illinois through the stories of state residents. Our intent is to show the reality of health care in Illinois. Our hope is that this reality will help Illinois celebrate, use, and safeguard what is already good and drive Illinois toward constant improvement and health care for all. Each issue features two true stories. One is about people who are uninsured, underinsured, or on the verge of losing their medical coverage-highlighting the need for cost controls, insurance reforms, and expanded coverage. The other is about people who are covered in Illinois by All Kids, FamilyCare, or Medicaid-highlighting how these public programs help people and how the programs can be improved.This newsletter goes out to health consumers, advocates, social workers, health care providers, and public officials, among others.

We want your stories for Illinois Health Matters! We will be extremely careful about your confidentiality and will always clear any of your information with you first before we use it. Please click here to share your story (or the story of someone you know) with us, and we will follow up with you. You may also submit stories to:
Melissa Cubria, direct line: 312.368.1168


MR. AND MRS. J

Mr. and Mrs. J of Springfield, Illinois, are parents helped by the recent FamilyCare expansion. Mr. J's former employer, a bank in Springfield, was sold, and the new owner moved Mr. J's department to Florida. At the time of his layoff, Mr. J received a severance package that included health coverage for his entire family for several months. Using some of his cash severance benefits, he returned to school in Springfield, in order to, according to Mrs. J, "learn a trade that could not be transferred out from under us." Mrs. J felt a "deep panic" when she found out that she, her husband, and their two young children would not have health insurance after October 2007 when the severance package coverage ended. They believed that "not having insurance was not acceptable…. It comes down to having something to cover us so that if something happened we would not lose what we have worked so hard to get." They applied for All Kids for their children and were immensely relieved when they learned that, with the FamilyCare expansion, the whole family would have coverage. Mrs. J says, "For my family this program is a huge help and peace of mind for us." They hope that their time on FamilyCare and All Kids will be short. "We hope to need the coverage only for three to four months, if that, because Mr. J is actively looking for a full-time job in the field he is going to school for." Thanks to Illinois's strong, successful public programs such as All Kids and FamilyCare, the J family and many families like them are able to access comprehensive, quality, affordable health care. Illinois needs to safeguard, celebrate, and protect these programs by putting them on firm, sustainable financial footing for the future.

JESSICA

Jessica, 21, recently graduated from a university. She would like to go to law school. She was covered under her parents' health insurance while she was a student. About six months before graduation, she began seeing a therapist due to mild anxiety that her doctor attributed to stress from school. Her parents' insurance covered the cost of her treatment, and a month before graduation she was "discharged" from treatment. When Jessica graduated, she was immediately dropped from her parents' group health policy because she was no longer enrolled as a full-time student. Jessica was uninsured, unemployed, and unqualified for any of the federally funded medical assistance programs available to Illinois residents. Her only option was to apply for individual coverage through a private insurance company. She is a healthy, young adult with no major medical history, but the company denied her coverage due to a "preexisting condition." A representative informed her that due to her history with anxiety she was ineligible for coverage. The representative said that anxiety was an automatic denial and that she could appeal the decision but needed a letter from her former doctor. Her doctor submitted a letter describing Jessica's past mild, stress-related anxiety and stated that he had discharged her as a patient and that she was currently in good mental health. Unfortunately the letter did not help her situation. The company would not reverse its denial of coverage. Jessica is currently uninsured and applying for coverage through other private companies. Her story calls for affordable, comprehensive, quality health care that should be available to everyone, regardless of income or medical history. At a minimum, Illinois could give parents the option to pay a premium in order to keep young adult uninsured children on the family's policy for a longer period (up until age 29).

Illinois Health Matters
Issue 1
March 4, 2008