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"When our soldiers leave to
fight for freedom, they should not be saddled with extra worries
about things like not being able to afford child care while they are
gone or losing health coverage because they had to leave college,"
Blagojevich said. "We want to make it as easy as possible for our
soldiers to leave with peace of mind that their families' needs will
be met."
Senate Bill 328, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Wilhelmi, D-Joliet,
and Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley, establishes the Helping
Heroes Child Care Program to provide vouchers to Illinois families
who have one or more parents deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Under
the bill, the Child Care for Deployed Military Personnel fund will
be created in the state treasury to receive federal funding to pay
for the program.
"Current programs weren't designed to handle the problems created
when citizen soldiers are on active duty for extended periods of
time," said Wilhelmi, the Senate sponsor. "Many of our National
Guardsmen and reservists are leaving better-paying civilian jobs to
go to Iraq or Afghanistan, and this often places a financial squeeze
on spouses and children at home."
"In many cases, the family breadwinner leaves a good-paying
civilian job to go to Iraq or Afghanistan," said Pritchard, the
House sponsor. "This is the least we can do to help with the
substantial cost of child care for our brave military men and
women."
The legislation, which unanimously passed both chambers and goes
into effect immediately, will have no fiscal impact on the state
because the program will rely on federal funding. The Illinois
Department of Human Services will determine income eligibility.
[to top of second column in this article]
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House Bill 116 ensures that when children of state workers are
deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, they will not lose health insurance
benefits. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg,
and Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, allows young people age 23-25
who are dependents of state employees and full-time students to
continue to be covered under a state insurance plan if they are
required to leave school to serve in the military.
"We know that this has been a problem in the past, but now we can
assure those concerned parents that their children will definitely
have insurance coverage while they're serving their country and when
they return home, without any lapse," said Brauer, the House
sponsor.
Under current law, when dependents reach a certain age or no
longer attend college on a full-time basis, their health care
coverage is terminated under their parents' state health plan. The
new law will make sure that there is no lapse in the medical
coverage during military deployment. To date, more than 80 people
have been affected by the old law. The new law is retroactive to
Jan. 1, 2002, and effective immediately.
"Illinois' men and women who have put their educational futures
on hold to protect American interests abroad should not be
confronted with the additional stress of returning home to find that
their health insurance privileges have become obsolete," said. Bomke,
the Senate sponsor. "Representative Brauer and I feel that it is
important for all people to have access to quality health care, and
our military personnel are no exception."
[News release from the governor's
office]
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