A coalition of diverse groups is organizing throughout the state of Illinois to ensure fulfillment and implementation of the Illinois Health Care Justice Act of 2004.

The Health Care Justice Act was signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in August. It contains a mandate to the General Assembly to enact a health care access plan by Dec. 31, 2006, and to implement it by July 1, 2007. The plan would guarantee accessible, affordable, quality health care to all Illinoisans.

It is legislation that should have been announced with a fanfare.

It is the first time in the history of Illinois that a plan to provide health care for everyone was approved.

The Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) was founded in 1989 on the belief that accessible, affordable, quality health care is a basic human right for all people and the coalition has been working toward that goal ever since.

The coalition includes 326 diverse organizations that would have been considered strange bedfellows just a few years ago. In addition to a strong union component including the AFL-CIO, there are groups such as the Illinois Hospital Association, the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, United Healthcare insurance, both the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the League of Women Voters.

Other organizations represent seniors, community groups, social service and people with disabilities.

In Granite City Thursday night, Jim Duffet, CBHC executive director, met with more than a dozen leaders from the United Steelworkers of America, AFSCME, PACE, SOAR and the United Congregations of Metro East to discuss strategy.

Under the Act, a task force is being put together consisting of 34 members, including five appointed by the governor, and six each by the majority and minority leaders in both Houses, plus as non-voting members the directors of the Departments of Public Health, Aging, Public Aid, Insurance and Human Services.

The Health Care Task Force will schedule public hearings in each Congressional District between now and Nov. 30. The coalition urges people throughout the state to attend the public hearings and let their stories about health care become a part of the record.

Duffet said nearly one out of three people in Illinois is uninsured and nearly 76 percent of the uninsured are workers. Part-time workers and the self-employed are more likely to be uninsured than full-time workers, but Illinoisans who work for small firms are also likely to be uninsured.

Most people who have health insurance have it through their employers who are finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the ever-increasing costs of premiums.

Duffet said when people are uninsured, everyone ends up paying higher premiums for health insurance. A wide pool of insured people would spread the cost of treatment over a broad base.

The Health Care Task Force will report to the governor and the General Assembly on March 15, 2006, its recommendation for how the state should proceed with the establishment of a health care program for all Illinoisans.

Some of the criteria for such a plan are stated in the Act: Provides access to a full range of preventive, acute, and long-term health care service; Maintains and improves the quality of health care services offered; Provides portability of coverage, regardless of employment status; Provides core benefits for all Illinois residents; Contains cost containment measures and has a cost analysis for each plan; and, Promotes affordable coverage options for small businesses. As the groups prepared to leave the meeting with Duffet, they discussed plans for efforts in the area.

'What our organization would like to do is build a strong coalition in Southern Illinois with AFSCME, USWA, SEIU and others,' Herb Reisinger of UCM said. 'If you look around this room you'll see the numbers represented: the Madison County Federation of Labor with 31,000 union members, the Southwestern Illinois federation with 24,000 members and UCM with 20,000. That's 75,000 represented here tonight.'

(From Edwardsville Intelligencer)