Illinois Covered

Introduction to Illinois Covered
On March 7, Governor Blagojevich announced his innovative plan – Illinois Covered – to offer affordable health insurance to everyone in the state. Illinois Covered would give each Illinoisan the opportunity to obtain health insurance at prices they can afford. Not only does the plan cover individuals, but it also levels the playing field amongst employers by mandating that employers who do not offer health insurance contribute to a better, healthier workforce.

This plan is important to everyone because it eliminates the unfair cost shifting caused by the uninsured. Currently, the cost of emergency care for the uninsured is built into hospital rates charged to insured patients, raising insurance by $1,000 each year. It also creates an insurance plan that will be available to those of us who have insurance today but may well lose it tomorrow, like so many Illinoisans over the past few years. Additionally, we have to consider the true cost of inaction. Staying the course in our health crisis will cost us over $30 billion over the next ten years.

To learn more about Illinois Covered, please click here.

Here's an audio file of John Bouman speaking about the Governor's Gross Receipts Tax

Action Items
Below are five actions you can take to make a difference in guaranteeing the passage of the Governor’s healthcare proposal.

1. Contact your local legislator.
To find your Illinois State Senator and Illinois State Representative’s contact information, click here.

Share the following message:
I am a constituent of Senator/Representative John Smith. I reside at ___________, and I am contacting Senator/Representative/ Smith/ to tell /him/her /to support the Governor’s Illinois Covered proposal, Senate Bill 5. Illinois Covered gives everyone the opportunity to obtain health insurance at prices they can afford. This is a long-term investment in the future. We have to decide if we are going to solve the problem of lack of insurance once and for all or take a giant step back and see more Illinoisans not get the healthcare they need. Reform Illinois’ healthcare system this year! Thank you.

2. Contact Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones, Jr.
    Speaker Michael Madigan
          o Address: 300 State House Springfield, IL 62706
          o Phone Number: (217) 782-5350
          o Fax Number: (773) 581-9414
          o E-mail: mmadigan@hds.ilga.gov
    
    President Emil Jones
          o Address: Capitol Building, Room 327 Springfield, IL 62706
          o Phone Number: (217) 782-2728
          o Fax Number: (773) 995-9061
          o Email: jones@senatedem.state.il.us

Share the following message:

I am contacting Speaker Madigan/President Jones to tell him/ /to support the Governor’s Illinois Covered proposal, Senate Bill 5. Illinois Covered gives everyone the opportunity to obtain health insurance at prices they can afford. This is a long-term investment in the future. We have to decide if we are going to solve the problem of lack of insurance once and for all or take a giant step back and see more Illinoisans not get the healthcare they need. Reform Illinois’ healthcare system this year! Thank you.

3. Add a link to Illinois Covered on your organization’s website
Create a link to www.illinoiscovered.com on your organization’s website to ensure your community can access more information regarding the Governor’s expansion plan.

4. Share your story
Visit the following website www.illinoiscovered.com/share/ to submit testimonial. Report how living without health insurance has impacted you or the life of someone else you know.

5. Write a letter to the editor

Click here to be redirected to the Campaign for Better Health Care’s website, where you will be provided with extensive resources on how to compose a thoughtful letter to the editor.