Breaking ground on the new expansion for Central Counties Health Centers is (from left to right) CCHC board chairman Bobby Hall, Springfield mayor Michael Houston, Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, and CCHC president and CEO Craig Glover. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE A clinic offering health care to underserved people in and around Springfield started an […]
Affordable Care Act
Posted inNews
Insurance regulator slams companies for ‘manipulation’ to charge more
Calling their scheme “manipulation,” Illinois’ head insurance regulator in April blasted a plan by health insurance companies to circumvent federal health insurance reforms and continue to charge discriminatory rates for an extra year. While the Illinois Department of Insurance says it won’t approve such plans, which it politely says are “contrary to law,” a statewide […]
Posted inNews
Senate passes ‘Obamacare’ bill
The confusing world of health insurance could get a lot easier for Illinoisans in October, when the federal government opens a public health insurance marketplace here. The state would only get to take control of the marketplace, however, after creating a board to oversee it. The Illinois Senate approved a bill to do just that […]
Posted inOpinion
A little knowledge…..No. 1 of a series
Back on April 30, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is one of the most reliable and most interesting of the organizations tracking public thinking on health care, issued a new poll result. Fewer than six in 10 of the American adults asked knew that “Obamacare” – the Affordable Care Act signed into law on March […]
Posted inOpinion
The new Know Nothings, continued
Readers with long memories might recall my rant in 2010 about voter ignorance. (“The new Know Nothings,” Nov. 18, 2010.) Apparently the public has not taken my criticism to heart. After years during which Republican Party candidates and Fox News repeatedly, even obsessively talked about little else, after the more recent (and well-reported) wrangles […]
Posted inNews
Health insurance reform closer to reality in Illinois
The Illinois Senate could vote next week on implementing a crucial piece of the federal health insurance reforms passed in 2010, but two competing bills could lead the state in opposite directions. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, sometimes called “Obamacare,” calls for each state to set up public health insurance […]
Posted inNews
Congress candidates clash on health care
As the Republican-controlled U.S. House continues its crusade to repeal the federal health care reforms passed in 2010, two candidates seeking to represent Springfield in the House take to the campaign trail with widey different views on the reform law. Republican Rodney Davis of Taylorville and Democrat David Gill of Bloomington each seek Illinois’ new […]
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Illinois health reform continues
Illinois is moving ahead with health care reform, despite a Republican-led movement in Congress to repeal the federal law. The state continues to implement provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including a new high-risk insurance pool and consumer protection against unreasonable rate increases. Every Republican and three Democrats in the U.S. […]
Posted inNews
People with disabilities seek independence
Health care reform could be a big plus for the disabled, says one Springfield disability advocate, but only if the state fundamentally changes how it handles those with special needs. Tyler McHaley, president of Springfield Area Disability Activists (www.disabilityactivists.org), shared that message Nov. 16 with the Health Care Reform Implementation Council, a collection of state […]
