No health insurance exchange for Illinois

Republicans aren’t the only ones afraid of Obamacare.

The Democratic-controlled Illinois House today opted not to call for a vote a bill that would have created a state-run insurance exchange under the federal insurance reforms of 2010. The House adjourned for the rest of the year this afternoon, meaning the state will likely miss out on about $270 million in federal funds it could have accessed to create a publicly-vetted insurance marketplace. 

Although Illinois already partners with the federal government for its insurance exchange, the Affordable Care Act calls for states to create their own marketplaces. The idea is to allow easy comparison of health insurance plans that all meet basic standards of care. The plan was meant to foster creative solutions for lowering the cost of health insurance, but it has proved to be a means for Republicans to hamper the effectiveness of the Democrats’ signature law. The law has dogged elected Democrats ever since passage, with Republicans claiming the law is a socialist redistribution of wealth. 

Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, sponsored Senate Bill 636 in the House to create a state-run health insurance exchange and a governing board to oversee it. Gabel decided not to call the bill for a vote today, saying she “ran out of time” to get enough support. Asked by a reporter to explain what factors prevented other members of the House from supporting the bill, Gabel walked away.

       The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case that asks whether federal subsidies should be available to patients in states that don’t have their own exchanges. The case hinges on a section of the Affordable Care Act which most experts say was written incorrectly to imply that the subsidies only apply to insurance plans purchased through state-run exchanges. 

Although polls show Obamacare as a whole is unpopular with the public, many of the individual components of the law tend to be very popular. Such provisions allowing children to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26, banning gender discrimination in pricing, requiring insurance companies to spend most of their income on medical care instead of marketing and requiring insurance companies to provide justification for large premium increases.

The main Republican gripes about Obamacare are based on requirements that most people must carry health insurance, and people with incomes below a certain threshold can recieve subsidies to help pay for their insurance. The Republican-controlled U.S. House has voted dozens of times to repeal all or part of Obamacare, and Democrats at the state and federal level have been reluctant to throw their full support behind the law because doing so provides Republicans with ammunition during election season. 

The Illinois General Assembly could pass legislation in the coming session, which starts in January, but the deadline to access about $270 million in federal start-up funds will pass on Dec. 31, making it much more difficult for a cash-strapped state to prioritize a non-essential program, especially because the federal government’s insurance exchange essentially provides a free back-up plan. 

Fifty non-profit groups and health care groups supported SB636, while the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the conservative Illinois Policy Institute opposed the bill. 

To view prices for plans on the federally-run insurance exchange for Illinois, visit www.healthcare.gov/see-plans.

Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.

This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2014.