Illinois’ state health insurance pool should get $5.4 million under a compromise measure Sen. Dick Durbin helped push through after negotiating a more than $1 million increase over what the original bill proposed. The bill was approved by the Senate this week by unanimous consent.
The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and will now go to President Bush for his expected signature. The measure was approved by the House earlier this week by unanimous consent, according to the Associated Press.
Durbin, the Senate’s second-highest ranking Democrat, stalled the original bill for seven months and then engineered a compromise that offered a better deal for Illinois.
The earlier bill would have resulted in hundreds of Illinois residents losing their health insurance, Durbin said.
The Council for Affordable Health Insurance Care was concerned with Durbin’s negotiating tactics in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., signed by administrators of 20 state health plans.
At stake was $300 million-plus in funding nationwide for the approximately 30 high-risk health insurance pools that provide coverage for those with medical conditions that make it impossible to get coverage in the regular market.
It was estimated that Illinois would have received $3.8 million under the original bill, which would have been a 60 percent cut. South Dakota, a sparsely populated state, would have seen its funding double.
Based on figures released by the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, Illinois would have received $4.4 million a year under the original Senate bill, instead of its previous average of $7.4 million during two previous years, which largely was used to cut premiums for the state’s participants.
Illinois has about 17,000 participants in high-risk insurance pools. In 2003, the state had $117 million in uninsured losses, with almost 70 percent of the tab borne by patients. The cost was kept down through subsidies such as assessments on insurance companies, state revenues and federal grants.
Source: Associated Press
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Illinois
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