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"Illinois soldiers, sailors and Marines who are sent to protect our
country deserve our support and help when they return. They
certainly should not have to worry about losing their health
insurance because they were called to active duty. This new law will
make sure soldiers can continue to receive health benefits after
they've completed their service," Blagojevich said. The need for
this measure became clear as returning service members found that
their private health carriers were denying them health insurance
comparable to the policies they had purchased prior to their
military activation.
"Providing decent health care for our service members who have
defended our democracy is imperative. I applaud Governor Blagojevich
for signing this legislation to help make this possible," said Lt.
Gov. Pat Quinn.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation's Division of Insurance had received complaints about
instances when private companies refused to reinstate private
coverage after active-duty personnel returned to private life. The
department worked closely with Sen. William R. Haine, D-Alton, and
Rep. Frank J. Mautino, D-Spring Valley, the chief sponsors of this
legislation.
"The men and women of Illinois who sacrifice their personal lives
and safety to protect our nation deserve every possible guarantee we
can offer them when they return from war and try and pick up their
former lives. Providing them the opportunity to reinstate their
health insurance seems a small price to pay," said Haine.
When reservists or National Guard members are called to active
duty, they normally let their private insurance lapse because they
have access to military or government-sponsored health care.
Senate Bill 916 will require Illinois health insurance providers
to reinstate pre-duty individual health care coverage for any
military member and his or her family once they have returned to
private life and their government-sponsored health insurance policy
expires.
"Those who serve our country so bravely in the armed forces
shouldn't be penalized because of it," said Mautino. "We want to
protect military personnel and their families by making sure that
they can continue to receive private health insurance benefits when
they leave the service."
The law provides that retiring or deactivated military personnel
will have just over two months (63 days) from the date of their
deactivation or the day they lose eligibility for
government-sponsored coverage to request reinstatement of their
former insurance polices.
[to top of second column]
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 Working with the General Assembly, the governor has since 2003
signed into law legislation to assist the state's 1 million veterans
and those soldiers who are currently on active duty or returning
from service. Among these laws are the following:
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Creating the
Veterans Care program to provide access to affordable,
comprehensive health care to up to 9,000 Illinois veterans who
earn too much to qualify for Veterans Administration health care
but cannot afford to purchase health insurance in the private
market.
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Requiring insurance
companies in Illinois to cover post-traumatic stress disorder, a
condition hurting thousands of veterans in the state.
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Enacting the Family
Military Leave Act, which provides the spouse and parents of a
soldier who has been called to more than one month of active
duty with 15 to 30 days of leave time.
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Allowing the
Illinois Department of Revenue to create a scratch-off lottery
game that will help fund grants and programs to better serve the
state's 1 million veterans.
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Helping soldiers on
active duty and veterans get or complete a college education.
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Allowing for
peacetime veterans to be admitted at the state's veterans homes.
-
Increasing
penalties for individuals who fraudulently try to obtain state
benefits reserved for veterans.
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Extending municipal
hiring preferences to all veterans who served at least one year
of active military duty.
-
Providing financial
assistance to small businesses that lose employees who are
called to active duty during military conflict.
-
Giving the state
accurate information on how Illinois veterans are doing in
comparison with veterans from other states in terms of
collecting federal benefits.
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Affording veterans
returning from active duty preference in keeping the jobs they
had been offered before being deployed.
-
Increasing property
tax exemptions for disabled veterans and their spouses.
-
Giving National
Guardsmen and reservists a 180-day extension to file their
property taxes.
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Eliminating the
initial fees for the Gold Star plates, issued to parents who
have lost a child in active service.
-
Waiving camping,
hunting and fishing fees for Illinois residents who are members
of the armed forces and are returning from active duty.
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Increasing the
monetary death benefit given by the Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs to families of soldiers killed in Iraq and
Afghanistan, making Illinois the first state in the nation to
offer soldiers additional monetary benefits besides those
provided by the federal government.
-
Helping Illinois
soldiers and their families maintain health coverage and child
care assistance when they are deployed on active duty.
[News release from the governor's
office] |
