Action Alerts

Teen Girl in Library photo



CURRENT ALERTS

 

On Tuesday, February 5th the Senate Public Health committee will hold a critical vote on SB 26, a bill that will finance the state's Medicaid program to cover the uninsured, and launch a critical piece of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In Illinois today, thousands of low-income adults without dependent children are not eligible for Medicaid. This major gap in health care coverage would be eliminated by SB 26 under the ACA.

We are at the finish line for a healthier, happier Illinois. Ask you Senator to vote YES on SB 26 today! Send an email AND call the easy and toll-free Illinois Affordable Health Care Hotline, provided by the AARP of Illinois, 1-888-616-3322 to be connected to your legislator. SB 26 authorizes Illinois to take advantage of the ACA to provide Medicaid to about 342,000 low-income Illinois citizens who are currently uninsured.

Find out who your Senator is here.


 

ARCHIVED ALERTS


Click here to display a listing of archived action alerts.


Tell Illinois Lawmakers to Support Medicaid Expansion HB 6253


In Illinois alone, 600,000 low-income, highly vulnerable, uninsured people would gain Medicaid coverage. The Illinois General Assembly must pass legislation immediately to extend Medicaid to these newly eligible individuals. We need you to take action today!


The threats to public health funding are greater than ever before. Public health agencies, and other vital supports for hard working families, are set to lose billions in January under the pending sequester. Learn more and urge your legislators to champion a balanced approach to deficit reduction today!

 

Proposed changes to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, are devastating for hard working Illinois, but they disproportionately affect women, especially African American and Hispanic women. Please contact your legislators and demand that they support women before time runs out!


In an age of deep partisan divisions and little political consensus—here is something we can all agree on: students should feel safe and secure while at school. Yet, more than one in three Illinois students report they feel “unsafe” in their own school. Urge your state senator to support HB 5290 today—which takes steps toward making IL schools the welcoming, nurturing environments they should be.

 

40,000 child care providers that serve hard working families in Illinois want you to know that they may be forced to turn away 400,000 children if the Child Care Assistance program does not receive a supplemental appropriation of $73 million immediately.  The future of this vital program depends on you; take action on our eadvocacy page!

 

Since 2010, Illinois has received more than $31 million from the Prevention and Public Health fund to make our residents healthier and improve infrastructure and technology. This vital resource has improved our health and our economy but legislators in DC want to eliminate it to cover other policy priorities. Email your Senator today and urge them to support the Fund. 


In Illinois, 2.7 million hard working families rely on Medicaid to provide life-saving health coverage.  Governor Quinn’s proposed cuts and changes to eligibility are unacceptable. Use our e-advocacy page to urge your legislator to keep Illinois Medicaid strong and ensure the program is financially sustainable.

 

The benefits of comprehensive, medically accurate sex education in schools are obvious to most of us. Unfortunately, not all legislators get it. Please take action today and demand that Illinois takes this necessary step to protect the health of our young people. 

Click here to take action»

 

Federal lawmakers are attempting to take back the health care reforms that have already made quality care more accessible and affordable for women and children. Urge your U.S. Representative to protect the health of women and children by opposing the repeal of the health care law.

 

Today, hundreds of youth and adults from across Illinois travel to Springfield to flood the Capitol and voice their support for comprehensive sex education in Illinois public schools. Stand with these advocates by taking action online today.

For too long, families have been subject to high prices, low quality, and an unwieldy and confusing process when it comes to purchasing health insurance. The creation of an Exchange in Illinois is an opportunity to change the system and support hard working families. Take action here and share our basic principles for developing a consumer friendly exchange with your legislators.

A central part of the Affordable Care Act requires states to create competitive health insurance marketplaces, also known as health insurance exchanges, which will help consumers more easily access and compare options for coverage from public and private plans. Policymakers are currently consider authorizing legislation to create an Illinois Exchange. Download IMCHC’s fact sheet on the benefits an Exchange will bring to Illinois consumers and be sure to take action through our e-advocacy page to ensure that legislators support a consumer-friendly Exchange!

Lawmakers in Illinois are trying to pass laws that shame and demean women accessing reproductive health care. Tell them today that making medical decisions is not their job and you won’t stand for it. Tell them to vote no on HB 4117 and 4085

The Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP) is out of money and we need your help to gain additional support for this vital program, which provides free cancer screenings to women who are uninsured.  Call the Governor today and ask him to support his program which saves lives through early detection.

In 2011, extremist politicians ignored the economic platforms on which they ran and instead declared a “war on women,” attacking access to basic health care services and contraception with severe consequences for the most vulnerable. We cannot stand this for another year so advocates are organizing a virtual march to commemorate Trust Women Week!

This week,  HHS and the Obama Administration STOOD FIRM against birth control opponents and issued a final rule which protects women’s access to affordable birth control. This is the Affordable Care Act at work for hardworking women and their families, and it simply cannot go unacknowledged. Take a few minutes and thank the President and Secretary Sebelius for standing with women!

The Prevention and Public Health Fund was an unprecedented commitment to public health applauded by advocates across the nation when it was established under federal health reform. Already, it is facing devastating cuts in Congress. Join the National Day of Action on Prevention on December 15 and protect the programs that protect Illinois families.

Who should gain the most from health reform in Illinois, the insurance industry or us? Your state legislators in Springfield are about to decide and we need you to speak out!

The benefits of comprehensive, medically accurate sex education in schools are obvious to most of us. Unfortunately, not all legislators get it. Please take action today and demand that Illinois takes this necessary step to protect the health of our young people.

In the next few weeks, Congress will be considering cuts to health programs for women, children and families that could exceed $1 billion in 2012 alone. This will hurt the people of Illinois and affect funding for vital public health programming for decades to come. People like you are coming together today to flood congress with the simple message that we cannot continue to slash at important programs. Attacks on the health of women, children, and families must end!

Earlier this summer, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published draft rules regarding the operation of the competitive health insurance marketplace (i.e. the Exchange), which is authorized by the Affordable Care Act.

IMCHC and the Shriver National Center on Poverty Law reviewed the draft rules and have put together comments to these rules from the Illinois advocates’ perspectives, as well as including comments from the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), Community Catalyst, and the Children's Dental Health Project. We referenced original language from the HHS proposed regulation to provide additional context to our responses for you and to the make the lives of the HHS/CMS reviewers a little easier. Click here to download a document with our sample comments.

Comments are due to HHS by 5pm (EST) on Monday, October 31st. The easiest way to submit your comments is by uploading your document through www.regulations.gov - search for HHS-OS-2011-0020-0001. You can also download a copy of the proposed rule from this site. Instructions on how to submit a mailed copy can be found in the proposed rule. Additionally, IMCHC also encourages that you share this email and document with other stakeholders and encourage them to submit comments as well. It will be important for HHS/CMS to hear from as many as possible to ensure that the final federal regulations concerning the Exchange prioritize the interests of consumers and small businesses.

Click here to download a fact sheet about the important role that Exchanges will play in helping individuals and small businesses access affordable health insurance coverage.

Feel free to contact Kathy Chan with any questions about this document or with questions related to the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee may be considering a $50 million cut to the Title V Maternal and Child Health block grant that funds programs critical to keep moms and babies in Illinois healthy! The vote could happen as early as this afternoon – we need you to make a phone call to Senators Durbin and Kirk NOW! Visit our action alert to learn more.

This week, the Institute of Medicine released recommendations on what should be officially considered as preventive services for women under the Affordable Care Act--including birth control and breastfeeding support! These recommendations are a critical first step, but they must now be formally accepted and implemented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Obama Administration. Reach out to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today and encourage her stand up for women and make history!

Today, community, labor and faith leaders are standing with Senators, doctors and home health workers on Capitol Hill to support the millions of Americans that rely on Medicaid. Even if you aren’t in DC you can stand with them by calling or emailing your senator and telling them that Medicaid Matters!

Federal legislators are considering budget cuts that would deny tens of millions of the most vulnerable people medical care, nutrition aid, housing, education, and much, much more. We need you to call your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin TODAY and urge them to oppose harmful caps and prevent reckless cuts to safety net programs.

Take action»

The 2012 budget makes unnecessary cuts to vital programs serving vulnerable populations in Illinois. On Wednesday, June 15, legislative leaders are meeting to discuss the Senate’s proposal to restore program funding, which does not increase spending. This is our last chance to impact the 2012 budget—please contact your state legislators TODAY and let them know we want their support!

Urge legislators to support SB3!
SB3 will help Illinois pay past-due bills for services provided to children and families
To find out more about SB3, you can download a fact sheet produced by our partners at Voices for Illinois Children.

SB2505
For the past several years, Illinois has faced serious fiscal challenges resulting from our structural deficit. State spending on essential services, including education, health care and public safety, have outpaced state revenue collected from the state’s personal income tax rate of 3% and a sales tax base that relies heavily on goods and not services. In the last days of the 96th Illinois General Assembly session, legislators voted in favor of new revenue that will help get Illinois back on sound financial footing. IMCHC’s summary of SB2505 can be found here.  

Tell Congress to Vote Against Repeal!
Call Your Members of Congress Today to Tell Them to Vote NO for Repealing Health Care Reform!


The Illinois General Assembly recently passed legislation (HB5420) that implements numerous reforms to Medicaid, including significant changes to All Kids eligibility as well as enrollment and renewal processes. The reforms are expected to save $774 million over the next five years and will also phase out the practice of paying Medicaid bills from one budget year with revenue from the next fiscal year. Click here to read IMCHC's summary of the legislation and contact Kathy Chan with any questions.