State commission to meet on emergency health contracts
SPRINGFIELD — A state commission is expected to vote Tuesday on emergency 90-day health insurance contracts.
The emergency contracts would be with Health Alliance, Humana, HealthLink and PersonalCare, to provide health insurance for state employees and retirees.
Dan Long, executive director of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, said the commission has scheduled a meeting for noon Tuesday at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to discuss emergency contracts for group insurance.
Long said the meeting was called in response to last week's court decision on health care for state employees.
On Friday, Sangamon County Judge Brian Otwell ordered the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services and its director, Julie Hamos, to stop any further action in awarding or signing the self-insurance Open Access Plan contracts to PersonalCare and HealthLink that were intended to provide health coverage for East Central Illinois and many other counties, effectively shutting down at least part of the health plan enrollment process for state employees and retirees set to end June 17.
"The court made it very clear that we cannot extend the current contract, so that's why we're talking about a new 90-day contract," Long said.
MoreCongrats to Health Alliance! You have now made it absolutely impossible for anyone who is not in a BCBS county to get affordable health care. Quality Care is the worst option available, has now tripled, if not quadrupled, my costs, and prevents me from seeing everyone of my doctors. Hope you are happy with yourselves.
You may be happier blaming Health Alliance, but the Quinn administration created this mess. They couldn't defend their actions before legislative commissions and they wouldn't sign a bill extending current coverage while the contracts were rebid. I am outraged at the thought of being dumped on Quality Care; everyone is. There is one thing that makes me madder, though, and that's the fact that Chicago-area employees faced no changes at all, while downstate employees' worlds are turned upside down. How hostile and unfair can you get?
No, the contract bidding process occurred and Health Alliance didn't make the cut . (It was kind of like the process they use to deny members needed medical care; sometimes these types of decisions don't seem very fair, do they Health Alliance?) And then, instead of putting together a competitive bid for next year, they are throwing a hissy fit and denying everyone in the area coverage from the contracts that WERE selected. I will never go back to Health Alliance after this. They don't want a level playing field; they want to be top dog whether they were chosen or not.
No, the state went forward with the self-insured contracts after COGFA declined to give their consent for the state to enlarge their self-insured contracts.
That is what the Judge actually ruled on.
The state should have stopped the new self-insured contracts as soon as COGFA decided.
Hey...if Health Alliance wanted to bid into an OAP like Health Link and Personal Care did, that's another story. However, they only bid an HMO. Why attack the OAP's and not BCBS??? This doesn't help anybody. And this isn't about the crap going on in Sprigfield either...that's a whole other issue. By doing this, Health Alliance has effectively punished those that were in their program and had to move to one of the OAPs...how smart is that for business??? I have been on Health Link and experienced absolutely no problems. I had to choose this plan in order to see a specialist in Chicago because I couldn't get the treatment I needed down here...Health Alliance wouldn't cover the Chicago doctor. So, Health Alliance has done me no favors, and has pretty much left everyone here in a lurch. So I will blame them for this latest mess. Sprigfield can have the rest of the blame for the entire process
Hey...if Health Alliance wanted to bid into an OAP like Health Link and Personal Care did, that's another story. However, they only bid an HMO. Why attack the OAP's and not BCBS??? This doesn't help anybody. And this isn't about the crap going on in Sprigfield either...that's a whole other issue. By doing this, Health Alliance has effectively punished those that were in their program and had to move to one of the OAPs...how smart is that for business??? I have been on Health Link and experienced absolutely no problems. I had to choose this plan in order to see a specialist in Chicago because I couldn't get the treatment I needed down here...Health Alliance wouldn't cover the Chicago doctor. So, Health Alliance has done me no favors, and has pretty much left everyone here in a lurch. So I will blame them for this latest mess. Sprigfield can have the rest of the blame for the entire process
"Where employees and retirees do not have a managed care plan option that is accessible to them and their family, the AFSCME Master Agreement provides that the State will charge employees in the QCHP the same premiums they would pay for an HMO or an OAP. The State has always afforded all employees in the State Employee Group Insurance Program this same benefit-and has informed the Union that it will continue to do so."
From AFCME's website.
So it sounds like if we don't have the OAP's or HMO's, then QCHP premiums are more affordable then it would be otherwise.
We will be 'stuck' with Cigna's "Quality Care"...which WILL cost effectively $60 MORE per month in premiums. Unfortunately now that we are unable to contract with either of the OAP plans..we have NO CHOICE. There are no providers for the Blue Advantage or HMO, unless my family would like to travel to Sangamon County. (Not an option.) What makes my blood boil is while Quinn approved this fiasco, at no point did he take into consideration that the "options" he offered were not and are STILL not inplace. If there are NO PROVIDERS...how is this a better option for CARE?? So please don't be mislead thinking your premiums are more affordable...because they simply are not.
Totally agree with Sandy... This is not the fault of Health Alliance.... It's the same old song and dance - Chicago area drives the process and downstate has to suffer the consequences. This has been THE most confusing, mismanaged situation from the get-go, and I blame Quinn for not doing the right thing in the first place... and the fact that he has sat on a bill that would help downstate employees is unconscionable! He should be ashamed and I seriously hope that he is not crazy enough to try to run for Governor again....
Employees all over are forced to change their health plans all the time why should state employees be treated any differently especially when the plan they were getting was better than most other employers offer! Who is paying for all the court costs, special meetings?? I will tell you me- a non state employee tax payer who IS NOT BENEFITTING from this at all!
All taxpayers pay for things that may not directly benefit them. And this may come as a surprise to you, but state employees are also taxpayers. So the state employees get to pay for "all the court costs, special meetings", too.
Another thing that may come as a surprise to you is that you (and anyone else) can apply for a job with the state. If you meet the basic requirements, you have just as much chance as anyone else to get hired.
You do benefit from government services though, so yes you benefit from the government having employees.
Most private employers would be sued ifi they delayed payments to health care providers as long as the state does, the employer would go bankrupt. That is one reason to question the states decision to increase their self-insurance if they already can't pay the health care providers it seems foolish to increase the states risk even more.
Oh... "your not benefiting from it". Therefore, the people who have it through their work effort should not have it? Hey; most of us current, and retired state employees get tired of the ravings of the informed. If you wanted the benefits, you should have tried to get the job.
barack hussein obama told this LIE to all Americans June 15, 2009 "IF YOU LIKE YOUR DOCTOR, YOU CAN KEEP YOUR DOCTOR!!!!!!!" he made a sweeping pledge that “no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what’s broken and build on what works.” His sweeping helth care reform was supposed to be cheaper!!!!!
REFORM IS TO MAKE IT CHEAPER!!!!!!!!!!!
QUALITY CARE IS NOT CHEAPER!!!!!!!
While this situation is not at all ideal, I'm thankful that one way or another I'll still have insurance. Many people aren't so lucky. If you don't like the options, you can always opt out and secure your own private policy. The problems surrounding this whole debacle aren't related to health care reform and to try and blame this on Obama is ridiculous...The situation sucks, but in the grand scheme of things, there are so many things that could be much much worse.
You can't opt out of the state employee health insurance without another group plan that provides essentially the same coverage.
According to AFCME, the state does provide QCHP at the same price as HMO/OAP's in areas where there is no access to an HMO or OAP. Although that is part of the AFSCME master agreement it has applied to all state health insurance employees in the past and would continue to according to the state.
So basically at this point people would default to QCHP but get it at an HMO/OAP price. That is not a bad choice.
You can opt out as long as you have secured another comprehensive ins. plan.
QCHP is not a bad choice. I had the plan for 2 years. I found the coverage to be pretty good and the customer service was much better than I've experienced with Healthlink. However, the deductibles are between $300-$450 and then there are "additional" deductibles such as ER visits ($400). Deductibles and co-insurance costs can add up fast, but it is a health care plan, which at this point in time is something that is considered benefit, not a right. If I became severely ill, I would not go bankrupt as it would pay my major medical expenses. That is something to be grateful for.
I totally agree with Sandy and Unicorn. The Quinn administration started all of this BS! Health Alliance did NOT start this. If Quinn had just left things the way they were, we wouldn't be going through this. Gov Quinn did something sketchy from the very beginning during the whole bidding process. Quinn blind-sided HA to get what HE wanted and it has just snow balled out of control-meanwhile Quinn has done NOTHING...he's just sitting back at his desk prolonging his VETO of the SB 178, while the rest of us scramble to fight for our health insurance. The Quinn administration's reasoning behind such a drastic move seems very suspicious. HA and Humana are trying to get to the truth- this is why they are pursuing this fight!! Quinn has so arrogantly pushed his agenda through as fast as he can totally disregarding any of our pleas. He is probably getting paid off by someone and that is ALLLLLLLLLLLLL he cares about. He should use that money to pay off the 200 million dollars he owes Health Alliance!!! Why would anyone take on the state when they CLEARLY don't pay their bills!!!!!!!!! Their dental plan....WHAT A JOKE....we are expected to pay up front and then wait for the STATE TO REIMBURSE US? Where are they going to find THAT money????
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