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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The federal Patient Protection and Affordable
3Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March
423, 2010; and
 
5    WHEREAS, In February of 2013, the United States Department
6of Health and Human Services issued approval for the State of
7Illinois to operate a health insurance marketplace, a key
8component of the Affordable Care Act, in partnership with the
9federal government; the marketplace is meant to be a
10centralized system for individuals and small businesses to
11purchase insurance policies; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Under the partnership marketplace, the State of
13Illinois maintains responsibility for regulating the insurance
14market and conducting consumer outreach and assistance, while
15the federal government is responsible for building and
16operating the marketplace; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois refused to release
18information regarding approved marketplace plans and rates
19prior to the October 1, 2013 open enrollment date, leaving both
20consumers and consumer assisters unprepared for open
21enrollment; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The marketplaces need to average 39,000 enrollees
2per day to meet the federal government's goal of 7 million
3enrollees by March 1, 2013; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In the first 2 days of open enrollment, in which
5the federal marketplace website received heavy traffic, less
6than 300 people had managed to obtain insurance coverage
7through the marketplace; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen
9Sebelius acknowledged in testimony before the United States
10House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee that the
11dysfunctional website has seriously hampered the rollout of the
12controversial law; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Despite President Obama's promise that those who
14were content with their current health insurance coverage could
15keep it, hundreds of thousands of consumers across the country
16have received notice that their current policy would be
17canceled; and
 
18    WHEREAS, A multitude of the Affordable Care Act's
19requirements have already been delayed in advance of the law's
20January 1, 2014 implementation date; these changes include a
21one-year delay of the "employer mandate", which requires large
22employers to provide health insurance to their employees, and a

 

 

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1one-year delay on the requirement to place caps on
2out-of-pocket insurance costs; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The federal government also announced that there
4would be delayed enforcement of several eligibility checks for
5marketplace subsidies; this is allowing consumers to provide
6necessary financial information to the government on the "honor
7system"; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Obama administration officials have ordered a
9"tech surge" to address the multitude of issues with the
10federal marketplace website; they do not expect the website to
11be fully functioning until at least the end of November;
12therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
15we urge Congress, in light of ongoing technological issues and
16the cancellation of coverage for many Americans, to delay the
17Affordable Care Act's "individual mandate" requirement for
18further examination; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Insurance is
20urged to release any available information regarding the number
21of people in Illinois whose current health insurance plan was
22cancelled due to new Affordable Care Act requirements and the

 

 

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1number of people in Illinois who have obtained health insurance
2coverage through the Illinois marketplace; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
4delivered to Governor Pat Quinn, Director of the Illinois
5Department of Insurance Andrew Boron, Director of the Illinois
6Department of Healthcare and Family Services Julie Hamos, and
7the members of the Illinois congressional delegation.