Illinois Democrats demand a response from Rauner
Today, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Congressman Bobby Rush led all Illinois House Democrats in sending a letter to Governor Bruce Rauner. Today’s communication follows an earlier letter, mailed on April 13th 2018, which asked the Governor to act to make health insurance premiums more affordable in 2019. In the original letter, the members outlined specific measures that Governor Rauner could take to combat the negative consequences of President Trump’s sabotage of the Affordable Care Act. The members also pledged to work with the Governor in those efforts, hoping to prevent spikes in insurance premiums and reduced coverage.
Governor Rauner has not responded to that request.
In today’s letter, the members reiterated their request, presented new data on just how devastating the premium increases in Illinois could be, and asked Governor Rauner to make preventing those increases a priority. The full text of today’s letter is available below, and a copy of the original letter can be found here. In addition to Reps. Schakowsky and Rush, the letter was also signed by Reps. Bill Foster, Mike Quigley, Robin Kelly, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Cheri Bustos, Bradley Schneider, Luis Gutiérrez, Daniel Lipinski, and Danny Davis.
Dear Governor Rauner:
On April 13, we wrote to you raising our concerns that actions of the Trump Administration and Republican Congress could have serious negative consequences for Illinoisans who will turn to Get Covered Illinois for health coverage in 2019. In our letter, we outlined a number of steps that the state of Illinois could take to make health insurance premiums more affordable and offered to work with you to mitigate the effects of those harmful actions. Six weeks later, we have yet to hear from you.
The evidence is mounting that Trump Administration decisions to sabotage the Affordable Care Act will have serious consequences for our constituents. Last week, the Center for American Progress released a state-by-state analysis estimating that average premiums in Illinois will be $1,211 higher as a result of just two actions: the elimination of the individual mandate and the expected Administration decision to expand short-duration plans. Short-duration plans do not have to comply with ACA protections such as limits on age-rating, coverage of essential benefits, or prohibitions on pre-existing condition exclusions. They would attract healthier, younger enrollees, driving up premiums in Get Covered Illinois plans for Illinoisans who cannot afford to rely on such bare-bones coverage.
Illinois could act now to correct those and other problems created by the Trump Administration and avoid higher rates next year. Yet, each day that goes by makes it more difficult to act effectively to prevent unnecessary premium increases.
We hope that you will follow the lead of other governors who are pushing for solutions. We ask that you make this a priority and ask that you schedule a meeting or a call with us to discuss your plans. Please contact Rep. Schakowsky’s office at 202-225-2111.
Sincerely,