Olickal-Backed Healthcare Reforms Signed Into Law, Expanding Access to Care

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois families will have access to better and more affordable health care coverage under new laws backed by state Rep. Kevin Olickal, D-Skokie, aiming to reduce costs and hold big insurance companies accountable.

“The Healthcare Protection Act represents a transformative step forward in our healthcare system. Illinoisians in rural areas, suburbs, and cities alike deserve access to affordable, high-quality care,” said Olickal. “This legislation is a landmark achievement in our ongoing quest for healthcare equity, and it sets a powerful precedent for future reforms aimed at improving our state’s healthcare system. Healthcare decisions should be between you and your doctor, not premeditated by big insurance. I’m extremely proud we can incorporate this new standard of care to fix current gaps in our system.”

The Olickal-backed House Bill 5395 and House Bill 2499 were signed into law Wednesday, delivering a series of major reforms to make health care coverage better and more affordable. The new Health Care 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.