Scherer Backs Reforms to Make Health Care More Affordable, Expand Access to Care

 

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Working families will have better access to affordable, adequate health care under a new measure sponsored by state Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, aiming to reduce costs and hold insurance companies accountable.

“For far too long, big health insurance companies have continually reduced amenities and found loopholes to lessen their costs while doing very little to help plan holders,” said Scherer. “Since then, I have been hard at work to make sure that what we saw after the Blue Cross Blue Shield and Springfield Clinic fallout never happens again.”  

Scherer is supporting House Bill 5395, which creates the Health Care Consumer Access and Protection Act. The bill makes a number of changes to ensure private, state and managed care health plans provide better, more affordable coverage, including:

• Requiring network adequacy audits and drug formulary transparency;
• Creating a rate review mechanism for large group health insurance plans;
• Easing prior authorization requirements for inpatient mental health care;
• Banning step-therapy and allowing patients to immediately use prescribed medication and treatment;
• Prohibiting inadequate short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans

“As big health insurance companies and drug manufacturers routinely report record-shattering, thousands of Americans have lost their lives or quality of life because of the inadequate and ineffective treatments options that were made available through their insurance,” said Scherer. “I am proud to be part of an effort to hold these companies accountable and make sure that in Illinois we place people over profits and greed.”