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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is committed to ensuring
3its residents have affordable and accessible health care,
4regardless of their income, ethnicity, or zip code; and
 
5    WHEREAS, We have continued to take important steps in this
6State to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring access to quality
7health care for patients and healthcare consumers in Illinois,
8despite attempts from Republican members to undermine these
9efforts; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In 2021, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus
11presented and passed the Health Equity Pillar, which included
12important provisions like implicit bias and racial training,
13expansion of sick leave, increased access to primary care
14physicians and federal qualified health centers, and state
15health assessment and improvement plan additions; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Medicaid funding was expanded under the Health
17Equity Pillar and other key legislation to include the
18coverage of, among other things, home-visiting and doulas,
19community health workers, hospital psychiatric services,
20veteran support specialists, noncitizen post-kidney transplant
21services, certified community behavioral health clinics,
22overdose patient observation treatment, and undocumented

 

 

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1health coverage; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Under the leadership of Leader Greg Harris,
3Illinois recently passed HB 1745 and, by doing so, became the
4first state to pass legislation to ensure patients have the
5ability to plan and predict their prescription drug costs; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Under the leadership of Leader Mary Flowers,
7Illinois is leading the way for biomarker testing by becoming
8the first state in the country to pass biomarker testing
9coverage in HB 1779; the passage of HB 1779 ensures that over
10three million Illinoisans have access to comprehensive
11biomarker testing through Medicaid and state regulated
12insurance; and
 
13    WHEREAS, When former Governor Bruce Rauner slashed funding
14for lifesaving breast cancer screenings, senior care, HIV/AIDS
15services, and more, Democrats and a small number of
16independent-minded Republicans stood up to Rauner's extreme
17cuts and passed a budget over Rauner's veto; Illinois has
18continued to rebuild its critical infrastructure after the
19damage Rauner caused by passing a comprehensive budget,
20including $24 million to the Illinois Breast and Cervical
21Cancer Program, $138 million for HIV/AIDS services and
22prevention, $30 million to maternal and child health programs,
23and over $980 million to the Community Care Program, which,

 

 

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1among other things, includes services to keep seniors in their
2homes instead of in a long-term care setting; and
 
3    WHEREAS, In order to improve the health outcomes of
4residents in the State of Illinois, we continue to recognize
5that it is essential to dramatically reform the State's health
6and human service system and remain committed to introducing
7more measures to support this transformation; and
 
8    WHEREAS, While partisan idealogues across the country
9tried to block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act
10and the federal expansion of Medicaid, Illinois acted
11decisively in expanding access to care; and
 
12    WHEREAS, While former President Donald Trump disgracefully
13tried to strip health care access from millions, Illinois
14moved in a fundamentally better direction by implementing
15state-level protections for care for individuals with
16pre-existing conditions, regardless of what extremists in
17Washington do; therefore, be it
 
18    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
19HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
20we once again strongly declare our commitment to ensuring
21access to quality health care for Illinois residents; and be
22it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois Congressional
2Delegation to support federal legislation building on the
3Affordable Care Act to ensure all people have access to health
4care, regardless of income, race, or location; and be it
5further
 
6    RESOLVED, That we oppose extreme efforts to strip away
7health care from people with pre-existing conditions,
8dismantle regulation, and allow big insurance companies to pad
9their profits at the expense of patients; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
11delivered to the Governor, all Illinois constitutional
12officers, and all members of the Illinois Congressional
13Delegation in order to bring further awareness to the
14importance of access to affordable quality health care in the
15State of Illinois and to be a model state for the rest of the
16country.