The state of Illinois is taking steps to move forward on its health insurance exchange. The state sees the value in doing this no matter which candidate wins the 2012 Presidential election. A coalition of concerned groups in Illinois urged Governor Pat Quinn to set up Illinois’ exchange.
Part of the Affordable Care Act requires every state to set up their own health insurance exchange. The exchanges will allow people to find an affordable health insurance plan. All exchanges are expected to be up and running by January 1, 2014. States that choose not to create their own state-run exchange will end up having one that is administered by the federal government.
In May of 2012, the state of Illinois accepted a $32 million federal grant that was to be used to lay the groundwork for their state’s health insurance exchange program. It took a long time for work to begin, and the bills about the exchange did not pass through the Illinois Congress.
A group of labor, health, and civic advocacy groups (including the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters of Illinois, and the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce) urged Governor Pat Quinn to get things started on creating Illinois’ health insurance exchange. The state is now moving forward on creating one.
The state of Illinois is making a state health insurance exchange because there is value in it, no matter which candidate wins the 2012 Presidential election. The thought was that if Obama won the election, then the Affordable Care Act would continue. It is advantageous for a state to create its own health insurance exchange rather than have one created for them by the federal government.
If Romney wins the election, there is still good reason to create a health insurance exchange. According to Brian Patt, of Infosys Public Services:
“Fifteen states are in the process now, including Illinois, and they represent about half the population of the country because they are the larger states. These states decided early on this makes sense to manage their own exchanges.” He further explained that if Romney wins “all he’s going to do is shift the model over to the states and they’ll end up with something very similar” to what they’re working toward now.
Another potential benefit was pointed out by Heather Howard, who is the director of the State Health Reform Assistance Network. She says that if Romney wins then Democrat-led states like Illinois could make the argument that they should receive the same type of federal help that Massachusetts got to support its health reform when Romney was the governor of Massachusetts.
At this time, the state of Illinois has received proposals from companies who want to get the contract to work on the states health insurance exchange. Not all them have been revealed, but it is known that Infosys, CGI, Delioitte Consulting, Xerox, and Cognizant Technologies Solutions are among them.
Image by Carol Cotter on Flickr