A Roadmap of the Affordable Care Act for Illinois: Health Care for Children and Families


What will be the effect of the Affordable Care Act on low-income children and their families in Illinois? How will implementation choices being made now by Illinois policymakers affect this population's access to affordable comprehensive health insurance in the future? This webinar, given on June 30, 2011, covered past, present, and future changes to private insurance, Medicaid, and the new health insurance exchange marketplace that affect children and families.

Webinar Recording (45MB; Windows Media Player format)

Presentation slides

Speaker bios

John Bouman
President, Shriver Center

John Bouman, president and advocacy director of the Shriver Center, is widely recognized as one of the most effective and thoughtful public-benefit advocates in the country. He was a leader in the design and implementation of positive aspects of Illinois' new welfare law in 1997, and he spearheaded the statewide efforts in Illinois to create both the FamilyCare program, which provides health care insurance for up to up to 400,000 working poor parents of minor children, and All Kids, the first state plan to extend health coverage to every child. He has consulted and co-counseled with advocates in many states; helped draft numerous pieces of legislation; given hundreds of presentations; published extensively; and served as counsel in numerous federal and state cases, including Memisovski v. Maram, which established substantial reforms in children's health care in Illinois. He currently is working on state-based implementation of federal health care reform, serves on the steering committee of the National Transitional Jobs Network, and leads the Responsible Budget Coalition in Illinois, an effort bringing together more than 200 diverse organizations to advocate for state revenue and budget reform in Illinois. Before joining the Shriver Center in 1996, he worked for two decades at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, where he supervised public benefits advocacy. Among his honors, he has received the Kutak-Dodds Prize from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association's Litigation Section, Child Health Advocate Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service Award from the United States District Court and Federal Bar Association. A 1975 graduate of Valparaiso University School of Law, John serves on the boards of the Chicago Transit Authority, the Donors' Forum of Chicago, and the Center for Law and Social Policy (Washington DC).

Kathy Chan
Associate Director/Policy Director, Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition

Kathy Chan currently serves as the Associate Director for the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition and provides leadership on advocacy efforts, as well as policy analysis for IMCHC and its four projects. From 2002-2006, Kathy worked at IMCHC on Covering Kids and Families where she built statewide and local coalitions and created and implemented strategies to help families more easily access public health insurance programs. Her efforts helped Illinois gain recognition as a national leader in enrollment. To date, over 2.8 million parents and children in Illinois have public insurance coverage.

Kathy worked briefly in state government with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, where she assisted with strategic enrollment efforts and the implementation of All Kids. She currently serves as board chair of IFLOSS, a statewide organization working to improve the oral health status of residents and remains an active volunteer with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago. Kathy graduated with a BA in English from Northwestern University and began her career as an organizer with Green Corps, a field school for environmental organizing.

Brian Imus
State Director, Illinois PIRG

Brian is responsible for coordinating policy development, research, and legislative advocacy. He recently started a municipal organizing and advocacy project that focuses on issues related to improving public transportation, strengthening utility rights for consumers, and advocating stronger public health protections such as a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars in Chicago. He was also recently appointed to a city task force to study Wi-Fi service for the city of Chicago. Prior to joining the Illinois PIRG staff in 2005, Brian was the state director for PIRG In Michigan (PIRGIM) and the PIRGIM Education Fund. At PIRGIM, he oversaw the Mercury Free Michigan Project, and developed a land use program to improve urban planning and open space protection. Brian has testified before state legislatures on land use and consumer rights, and has been featured and quoted frequently in TV, radio and print. Prior to joining PIRG in 1996, Brian conducted worked on two campaign finance reform ballot initiatives in Oregon and California.

Links and Resources

Roadmap of the Affordable Care Act's Impact on Illinois' Children and Families (June 2011)

Resources on the ACA and public insurance:

Illinois's new Medicaid reform law

Written Testimony on Medicaid to the Illinois Health Care Reform Implementation Council (Dec. 6, 2010)

Policy Memorandum on Medicaid Reform (Jan. 13, 2011)

Comments from Interested Parties on Illinois' Design of EVE (June 20, 2011)

Medicaid Works: A Review of How Public Insurance Protects the Health and Finances of Children and Other Vulnerable Populations (June 13, 2011)

Measuring Pediatric Access to Subspecialty Care by Insurance Status in Cook County

Jobs At Risk: Medicaid Cuts Would Hurt State Economies

Resources on the ACA and consumer protections and private insurance reform:

Governor issued Executive Order 10-12 establishing the Healthcare
Reform Implementation Council
http://www2.illinois.gov/healthcarereform/Documents/IL%20HRIC%20Initial%20Report.pdf

Illinois Department of Insurance held stakeholder meetings to gain input on the design of the state-based exchange

Responses to the Illinois Health Reform Implementation Council's request for Public Comment on Health Insurance Reform and the Option of Establishing an Insurance Exchange in Illinois (December 3, 2010)

The Young Person's Guide to Health Insurance

Illinois Health Information Exchange
This site provides information on how the State of Illinois is expanding the use of health information technology to improve the delivery of healthcare in Illinois. HIE is the use of electronic medical records and e-prescribing to assist medical providers in understanding a patient's full medical history.

Hospital Rate Reform Initiative
This site provides information on how the Department of Healthcare and Family Services is launching an initiative to restructure and modernize the payment methodology for Medicaid inpatient and outpatient hospital rates.

Coordinated Care Policy Forum
The site is HFS's homepage for care coordination in Illinois for the Medicaid program. It has a bulletin board for announcements; background information; and a tool for you to communicate with HFS about this issue.

Resources on the ACA and health care delivery models and the ACA in the news:

Medical Home Network will link hospitals, clinics, and doctors serving Medicaid patients, Chicago Tribune, June 14, 2011.

Health Law & Litigation
This site provides comprehensive information and references for the litigation regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The Cost of Repeal (Jan. 10, 2011)