The 12 Days of… Medicaid?
On the 1st day of Medicaid the IL House should give us Medicaid for 342K uninsured, 2 of 3 working. BACKGROUND: HB 6253 will cover an estimated 342,000 uninsured Illinoisans. According to data from the...
View ArticleThe Affordable Care Act and You: The New Consumer Benefits
The election is over, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is here to stay. The Shriver Center, along with numerous national and local advocacy organizations, has been active in getting the word out about...
View ArticleFive Myths about the Medicaid Expansion
The Supreme Court's June 2012 Affordable Care Act ruling was decisive about the implications of the individual mandate; however, it was less decisive about the ACA's Medicaid expansion. The court gave...
View ArticleWhat Happens to the Pre-Existing Condition Plans on Jan. 1, 2014?
This post is the first in a series on the Illinois State Partnership Exchange Blueprint Application, which is pending approval by the Federal Government. For years, health insurance carriers refused to...
View ArticleAdvanced Practice Nurses: Willing to Meet the Needs of the Medicaid Expansion
This guest post was written by Donna Petko, MSN(c), BSN, RN; Clinical Director; 1st Choice Home Health Providers, LLCIf Medicaid Eligibility Expansion (HB 6253) is approved in early January 2013, an...
View ArticleStart Your Week Right! Contact Springfield Today.
Leveraging Federal Financing for the Uninsured (HB 6253) Reaches the Illinois House THIS WEEK! This week (and possibly TODAY) the Illinois House will consider HB 6253 House Amendment 1 (HA 1), a bill...
View ArticleA New Year and New Medicaid Awaits Us
What an amazing and historic beginning to the start of 2013. This week an Illinois legislative body advanced a major piece of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when the House Human Services Appropriation...
View ArticleWhat is the Illinois Partnership Health Insurance Marketplace?
The Affordable Care Act requires each state to have a health insurance marketplace (otherwise known as a "health insurance exchange"). Originally, the plan was for each state to establish its own...
View ArticleIllinois Medicaid Redetermination -- What It is & What To Tell Your Clients
In 2012, the Illinois Legislature passed the Save Medicaid and Resources Together (SMART) Act. One portion of this Act aimed to address the backlog of Medicaid redeterminations that has accumulated...
View ArticleIllinois Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Plan
The State of Illinois has selected its Essential Health Benefits benchmark plan - the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois BlueAdvantage Entrepreneur plan.This plan sets the bar for 10 categories of...
View ArticleHappy 2nd Birthday IHM!
Two years ago, on February 1st, 2011, Illinois Health Matters was created to be a source for straight-forward, factual info on the progress of health care reform in Illinois. Before we head into our...
View ArticleWhy Obamacare will ignite your startup life
This post originally appeared on Crain's Chicago Business.Written by Coco SoodekObamacare is going to set you free to pursue your startup dreams. Why? Because finally you won't be chained to a big...
View ArticleNavigators, Assisters, and Counselors, Oh My!
By now we know that upwards of 30 million Americans will have new, more affordable health coverage options available to them by January 1, 2014. But what many don’t realize is how incredibly difficult...
View ArticleThe HHS Secretary Visits Chicago
This week, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Chicago to speak about the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act.Secretary...
View ArticleIRS Issues Guidance on Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit - Clarification
The IRS issued a final regulations on when an employer-sponsored plan is considered "affordable" for an individual related to the employee for purposes of eligibility for a premium tax credit. Under...
View ArticleIPXP To Stop Accepting Applications March 2nd
The federal office charged with implementing health care reform announced last Friday that the subsidized plans that are currently insuring more than 100,000 individuals nationwide, will be closing...
View ArticleThe Negative Impact of SMART Act Cuts
This post originally appeared as a letter from Age Options to the IL House of Representatives human Services Appropriations Committee, submitted on Feb. 20, 2013The cuts to Medicaid that were...
View ArticleFor Better Healthcare Join The Small Business Healthcare Consoritum
Our changing health care system will have a profound effect on all of us. Now that the election is over and the Supreme Court has ruled, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not going away. It will not be...
View ArticleDual Eligibles Next to Move into Managed Care in Illinois
On February 22, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state of Illinois for a demonstration project that will enroll approximately...
View ArticleIllinois Should Accept Federal Funds to Fill the Gap in Medicaid
We strongly encourage the General Assembly to accept new federal Medicaid funding that will be made available to Illinois in 2014 to fill a historic gap in the Medicaid program and provide health care...
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