Stuart Statement on BJC, Aetna Agreement

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.— State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, released the following statement after BJC Health and Aetna health insurance have reached an agreement to extend health care coverage for at least one year:

“I’m grateful BJC and Aetna have come together to ensure members in our community and across the state of Illinois will have continued access to their healthcare. For retirees in our area, BJC Health is the only healthcare covered by state insurance, so it was crucial to come to a timely agreement to ensure their care was maintained.

“The Metro East has some of the highest quality healthcare around, and everyone in our community should have access to that care. I hope this short-term agreement will build into finding a long-term solution so our community members have adequate healthcare coverage.

“The root of the issue is with regulations for providing state employee and retirees’ health insurance, as managed by Central Management Services (CMS). As it stands, CMS only has to have one insurance provider in a certain area, but I’ve introduced legislation that will allow more than one insurance company to be accepted to cover an area. Moving forward, if a healthcare provider and health insurance company could not reach an agreement, those affected would have another option for healthcare coverage.

“Thank you to both organizations for hearing out our community and legislators’ concerns, and for putting necessary healthcare services over all else.”

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