Story provided by Rep. Schweizer
This week, State Representative Brandun Schweizer (R-Danville) filed his first bill in the Illinois General Assembly. House Bill 4972 requires the Central Management System, the state agency responsible for handling health insurance and benefits for Illinois state employees and retirees, to give 120 day notice prior to any changes taking effect concerning health insurance and coverage.
The bill was filed after retired Rep. Mike Marron started the process while in office, after the State of Illinois wanted to implement Aetna as the sole insurance option for Medicare, which Carle Hospital of Champaign did not accept at the time.
“Families and seniors in east-central Illinois were left scrambling and were rightly worried that they would no longer be able to continue seeing their primary care doctor, which hospital to visit in an emergency situation, or whether they would be able to continue to receive treatment under their current care plan,” said Rep. Schweizer. “Under my bill, retirees and state employees would not be left in this unacceptable state of uncertainty. Coverage changes do happen, but notifying people in a last-minute way is totally unacceptable. That’s what my bill seeks to change.”
Rep. Schweizer says that this legislation creates a framework to protect those enrolled in the State of Illinois healthcare system from any impulsive decisions that could affect their care.
“No one should be worried about immediately needing to find a new network of physicians and specialists and whether they will receive care in time due to last minute changes that lead to negative outcomes,” Schweizer said.
For more information on House Bill 4972, please contact Rep. Schweizer’s office at (217) 782-4811, or at repschweizer@district104.com.
