Rep. Barbara Hernandez Enacts Reforms to Make Healthcare More Affordable, Expand Access to Care

AURORA, Ill. – Illinois families will have access to better and more affordable healthcare coverage under new laws backed by state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, aiming to reduce costs and hold big insurance companies accountable.

“The Healthcare Protection Act is a step forward for securing affordable healthcare for every Auroran,” Hernandez said. “When low-income earners and their families are denied healthcare coverage due to high premiums and insurance corporation gimmicks, our entire community suffers. This measure will expand access to vital prescriptions and medical operations and doctor visits for countless underserved people, and create the foundation for a stronger future in the process.”

The Hernandez-backed House Bill 5395 and House Bill 2499 were signed into law Wednesday, delivering a series of major reforms to make healthcare coverage better and more affordable. The new Healthcare Protection Act would create a rate review process requiring insurance companies to justify premium increases, and empowering state watchdogs to reject unwarranted hikes that simply pad profits.

Additionally, the measure curbs gimmicks insurance companies use to deny access to medically necessary treatments, procedures, and prescription medications, including step therapy—where insurance companies require a patient to ‘try and fail’ with cheap, ineffective treatments before covering the prescribed treatment or medication. Under the Healthcare Protection Act, doctors and patients will now be empowered to make important medical decisions—not insurance companies.

These measures also stop insurance companies from selling inadequate short-term healthcare plans that provide little or no coverage.