The Senate Public Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony from top healthcare officials from Illinois on the urgent need for Governor Rod R. Blagojevich's historic "Illinois Covered" plan to give every resident access to affordable Illinois health insurance.
The health plan will provide affordable coverage to the 1.4 milion uninsured adults in Illinois and will also help many middle-income families and small businesses that are currently enrolled in health insurance plans save thousands of dollars a year on healthcare costs.
The cost of health insurance coverage is rising dramatically nationwide, leaving more and more people uninsured, and forcing businesses to drop or significantly cut back health coverage. As a result of faster-than-inflation rate increases, the number of uninsured nationally has increased by 6 million since 2000. The cost of providing health services to uninsured people puts significant pressure on families, the healthcare system and the nation's economy:
• Lack of health insurance coverage is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.
• Medical-related bankruptcies have jumped 2,200% since 1981.
• A FamiliesUSA study found that the health insurance premiums for families in Illinois increased by $1059 due to costs incurred by the uninsured.
• The HR Policy Association estimates the annual cost of reduced productivity due to uninsured workers in the nation's top 200 largest companies is between $87 billion and $126 billion.
Under Gov. Blagojevich, Illinois has expanded access to healthcare to over 560,000 more people, and became the first state in the nation to provide access to comprehensive health insurance to every uninsured child in the state through "All Kids." As a result, the Kaiser Family Foundation ranked Illinois #1 in the nation for adding working parents to healthcare for 3 years in a row, and credited Illinois for sparking a national movement to provide healthcare to all children.
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