| NOBODY NEW: Syverson says
people with insurance are simply switching plans under Obamacare. |
"All they're doing is just re-enrolling the same people who are
currently insured into a new plan, that is more expensive, (and)
that taxpayers have to subsidize," state Sen. Dave Syverson,
R-Rockford, said. Syverson said Illinois is simply rolling its own high-risk insurance
pool, people in the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, or
I-CHIP program, into the Obamacare marketplace.
I-CHIP was started in 1994 to help people in Illinois with
pre-existing conditions find insurance. But since Obamacare requires
insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, many of the
people enrolled in I-CHIP will move to Obamacare.
| SHRINKING I-CHIP: Mautino
says I-CHIP is telling people to head to Obamacare. |
"I-CHIP is actually encouraging people to move to the marketplace,"
state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, told Illinois Watchdog.
"Our enrollment numbers are at about 19,000, down from about
21,000."
On Oct. 3, just days after Obamacare launched, 20,636 were enrolled
in I-CHIP. As of Dec. 13, 19,834 people remained in the program.
Mautino said more people are dropping out of I-CHIP each day.
I-CHIP is canceling one of its insurance plans and notices went out
in October. The program is ending the federal subsidy for four other
plans. Mautino said Illinois will continue to offer some high-risk
insurance, unless the Illinois General Assembly votes to end the
I-CHIP plan, though there are no plans to do that.
Still Syverson said, if Obamacare is simply replacing I-CHIP, who is
being helped?
"As I said, (we've) added virtually nobody, except for expanding
Medicaid, but on the health insurance side we've not added anybody," Syverson said.
"But we have spent millions and millions of dollars creating this big
bureaucracy."
[to top of second column] |
Illinois spent about $100 million to create its state-federal
partnership exchange. The state spent another $50 million to hire
outreach specialists, navigators and a marketing team.
The only "success" Illinois can tout is the massive growth in
Medicaid. The state has added more than 125,000 people to Illinois'
Medicaid rolls, in some cases going to prisons and jails to find
them.
Syverson said Illinois is going to go broke when that bill comes
due.
"You think the federal government can pick up that whole cost for
the next two years and then 90 percent (in) year three? It's not
possible for the federal government to do that," Syverson said.
"There are going to be changes. The states will be stuck having to
pick up a large number of these costs."
Illinois will spend more than $12 billion of its own money on
Medicaid in the current budget. The Medicaid expansion is expected
to add $700 million to that total next year, and add another $1.3
billion to the state's Medicaid tab within five years. If the
federal government changes how it pays for Medicaid, Illinois could
see those costs climb to $6 billion.
___
Contact Benjamin Yount at
Ben@IllinoisWatchdog.org and find him
on Twitter:
@BenYount.
[This
article courtesy of
Illinois Watchdog.]
|
