Rep. Sharon Chung Enacts Reforms to Make Healthcare More Affordable, Expand Access to Care

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

“Securing affordable healthcare for every member of our community is not optional,” Chung said. “The choice between buying groceries and paying for a vital medical procedure, deciding to ration lifesaving prescriptions, these are not options people should ever have to weigh. While the work is far from over, this measure represents substantial progress towards putting an end to the need for those choices for good, and making sure every person without exception gets their essential medical needs met.”

The Chung-backed House Bill 5395 and House Bill 2499 were signed into law last week, 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.