© 2024 WNIJ and WNIU
Northern Public Radio
801 N 1st St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9000
Northern Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Illinois May Run Its Own Health Marketplace

Flickr user / Images Money "Healthcare Costs" (CC BY 2.0)

Illinois may soon run its own healthcare marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. The General Assembly is working against a New Year's deadline to create its own exchange. 
 
That, or risk losing millions of dollars from the federal government. 
 
When the Affordable Care Act went into effect last year, Illinoisans began signing up for healthcare in a marketplace technically run by the federal government. While other states opted to create their own exchanges, Illinois did not--mostly in an effort to avoid extra costs.
 
Two-hundred, seventeen thousand people in Illinois have enrolled in plans under the Affordable Care Act so far, but they may be in jeopardy if Illinois doesn't create a state-based exchange. A lawsuit in front of the U.S. Supreme Court has the power to take away federal subsidies from people in states without their own marketplaces.
 
The plan faces Republican opposition, not just because it's about Illinois' role in the Affordable Care Act, but because the decision comes a month before Republican governor-elect Bruce Rauner is sworn in. Representative David Leitch, a Republican from Peoria, says the rush to create a state exchange goes against voters' wishes.
 
"Why are we moving now? I see no reason at all why we should be moving this forward at this point when the people spoke and we have a new administration."
 
But Representative Robyn Gabel, a Democrat from Evanston, says it's not just the lawsuit creating pressure to create a state exchange. It's the deadline from the federal government to create an exchange by New Year or lose $270 million in startup funds.
 
Gabel says the creation of the exchange wouldn't really make much of a difference to Illinois in the long run.
 
"This idea that there are extra taxes on the people of the state of Illinois if we have a state exchange versus a federal exchange is simply not true. Those taxes on the individual mandate and businesses are there regardless."
 
Today is the last day the General Assembly is scheduled to meet for the rest of the year, creating yet another deadline for lawmakers.

Meisel works for Capitol News Illinois.