HR1189 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1189 LRB098 21648 GRL 60485 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010, signifying a historic change in access to health care in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The Affordable Care Act expands health coverage options through health insurance marketplaces and Medicaid, allowing consumers more affordable and comprehensive coverage options; and

WHEREAS, Governor Pat Quinn issued Executive Order #2010-12 establishing the Health Care Reform Implementation Council, which was charged with making recommendations to assist the State in establishing a State Based Marketplace, establish consumer protections reforms, reform Medicaid, assure high quality care, and adopt the use of electronic medical records; and

WHEREAS, A State Based Marketplace was the unanimous recommendation of the Health Care Reform Implementation Council; after holding hearings throughout Illinois, businesses, labor, consumers, and insurers agreed that a State exchange was preferable to a Federally Facilitated Marketplace; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly passed and Governor Quinn signed Public Act 97-0412 in 2011, the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Law, establishing the intent for Illinois to operate a State Based Marketplace for individuals and small businesses and creating a Legislative Study Committee on the subject; and

WHEREAS, Based on Public Act 97-0312 and the recommendation of the Health Care Reform Implementation Council, Governor Quinn submitted his intent to the Department of Health and Human Services for Illinois to function in a partnership capacity with the Federally Facilitated Marketplace until the State marketplace became operational; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has functioned as a State Partnership Marketplace since October 1, 2013, branding the campaign as Get Covered Illinois, and enrolling more than 217,000 people in the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace by working with many partners across the State; and

WHEREAS, Some state-based marketplaces have functioned well (generally accepted as including Connecticut, Kentucky, New York, and California) and others have functioned poorly (commonly considered as including Oregon and Maryland); and

WHEREAS, States with poorly functioning marketplaces are exploring the utilization of the IT platform from states with smoothly operating marketplaces; and

WHEREAS, The state of Maryland has concluded that costs of adopting the IT platform from Kentucky and Connecticut are greatly reduced compared to the costs of constructing a new state marketplace and would provide a well-functioning state marketplace with much less risk in a shorter period of time; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Governor's Office of Health Innovation and Transformation, in collaboration with the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace, is requested to assess the experiences of State Based Marketplaces during their first year of operation and identify those states whose marketplaces worked as intended and whose IT platforms would be compatible with the State's Medicaid Integrated Eligibility System and could serve as the technological base for an Illinois state-based marketplace; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor's Office of Health Innovation and Transformation to submit the results of the assessment to the House of Representatives by November 10, 2014, for its consideration of options for maintaining the federally-facilitated marketplace or developing a State Based Marketplace that meets the needs of Illinois while federal funding for state-based marketplaces is still available.