In order to improve access to affordable and adequate healthcare for working families, a new measure has been introduced. This bill, known as the Health Care Consumer Access and Protection Act, was backed by Representative Scherer who expressed concern over the actions of big health insurance companies.
Scherer cited their history of reducing benefits and finding ways to cut costs without adequately helping their policyholders. He has been working diligently to prevent a repeat of the issues that arose following the Blue Cross Blue Shield and Springfield Clinic fallout.
The bill includes several provisions aimed at ensuring that private, state, and managed care health plans offer better and more affordable coverage. Some key elements of the bill involve requiring network adequacy audits and drug formulary transparency, implementing a rate review process for large group health insurance plans, and simplifying the prior authorization process for inpatient mental health care.
Additionally, the bill seeks to address issues such as step therapy, inadequate short-term health insurance plans, and the immediate use of prescribed medications and treatments. Scherer emphasized the need to hold health insurance companies and drug manufacturers accountable for the impact their actions have on patients. By prioritizing people over profits and greed, Illinois aims to provide quality healthcare options to its residents.
