So as I’ve been telling you, Big Government Rauner whom the devil has inflicted as governor on the state of Illinois is preventing the medical insurance of university workers to pay for our health care procedures.
The workers keep paying the premiums, there’s a ton of money in the system, the only problem is that Rauner is refusing to release that money for no reason other than being a lazy, hateful fucker.
What’s even more ridiculous, the fact that workers can’t get any medical care dies not constitute “a qualifying event” for us to seek alternative coverage. We can’t switch to our spouses’ insurance plans or seek coverage through Obamacare. Our only option is to exist without medical care indefinitely while Rauner lives large on the state dime in his mansion.
It’s the most insane thing I have ever had the misfortune to observe. Thousands of people are robbed of their money and denied medical care because of a whim of one deranged, hateful fellow. You’ll say we are to blame because we elected this piece of garbage. And yes, you are right, we are paying for our own collective idiocy. Let this situation at least serve as a warning to people who vote under the influence of empty clichés and silly lies.
Clarissa's Blog 
“You’ll say we are to blame because we elected this piece of garbage.”
Yes and public opinion still seems to be on the side of Rauner.
71 percent agreed with the statement: “Bruce Rauner is trying to shake things up in Springfield, but the career politicians are standing in his way,”
http://www.rebootillinois.com/2015/09/27/editors-picks/richmiller/poll-shows-rauner-winning-public-opinion-dems-in-general-assembly-losing/46450/
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Great post! Will retweet. This is our chance to inform the voting public about this governor’s failed policies.
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Right you are. There are 365,000 people in Illinois whose health insurance Rauner has stolen. Each of them is active on at least one social network. If each writes a post, a tweet, a Facebook status about this, it will be of great help.
I really hope people will stop standing by vapidly and passively. It can’t be that hard to repost, retweet, etc.
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This is horrible. What does this mean in practical terms? Like if someone gets hit by a car or has a heart attack? Are they personally responsible for footing the entire bill? What about routine checkups/exams? Is everybody cancelling all medical treatment unless it’s unavoidable? This is so horrible. I can’t believe there aren’t mass protests about this!
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We are told to take out loans and pay in cash in the hopes that eventually the state will pass a budget and reimburse us. For me personally, this is the worst possible moment for this to happen. I have a surgery coming up that cannot be delayed until the state figures out this mess. And I have no idea how this all will work out.
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I cannot believe that this is happening. This is putting people’s lives at risk. Simply horrible. I cannot believe that this is legal actually.
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This sort of thing being possible was actually why I posted the link to the Illinois state government failing to pay lottery winners a while back …
This has absolutely nothing to do with whether you sympathise with those who won the lottery.
This has absolutely everything to do with the notion that the financial and contractual obligations of a State should be managed in good faith.
The truly dangerous part about Rauner isn’t that he’s someone you can discredit with the idea that he’s deranged in some way — he’s quite obviously shrewd about providing a cover message that enough people will accept. What makes Rauner dangerous is that he behaves in a way where he believes he can do as he would, provided that the people he’s dealing with are somewhat inconvenient to his goals, even if this means that he undermines and ignores obligations of the State.
Rules only mean something to such a person if that person can be made to follow them by virtue of an overwhelming counter-force …
[at this point you may be amused that a quasi-Conservative would in fact be advocating for your receipt of benefits, given the horrible track record of American conservatives …] 🙂
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Also, on a more practical note, since the State of Illinois healthcare plan is no longer meeting the ACA 80% pay-out rule, wouldn’t it be possible for all of those affected (including you) to demand some form of injunctive relief? A ruling in your favour might force the state to refund all of the money collected for premiums.
Perhaps you could simply bail out of the State plan and buy your own coverage from whatever ACA market place you have, at least if I understand how this system’s supposed to work …
It’s not an ideal solution, but you would at least be able to visit the GP without wondering whether you’ll go bankrupt.
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There is a lawsuit that has been filed asking the court for an immediate injunction to pay. But we all know that lawsuits take forever.
This will all be resolved eventually but the problem is that there are people who need medical services right now and can’t wait. I’m one of those people.
Obviously, I will be leaving this system in April and switching to my husband’s insurance in April. But April is too late for the treatment I need now.
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I have a few additional thoughts on this …
Is it a requirement for you to reside in Illinois as a condition of employment?
I’m thinking it’s possible to game this system by shifting residence between states, triggering multiple “qualifying events” that would let you get private cover first in that new state, after which you could trigger another one that would let you join your husband’s plan earlier than April 2016. (Since you are on a sabbatical, it wouldn’t be unusual for you to “require” new accommodation for longer than one month in another location.)
Since you can’t be refused full medical cover under the ACA as I understand it, this seems to be the easiest way to force your way out of your current bad coverage without having to wait.
Perhaps some friends in another state would be willing to help — I think that if you have some sort of signed document that says you’re in the process of becoming a resident of that state, such as a rental agreement, you have enough to apply for health cover there.
I suggest Florida, BTW, if that’s an option — they don’t have a state-level income tax, so you’d still only pay state-level taxes on your earnings to Illinois, and perhaps not even then if you have a clever and capable tax advocate.
I know it’s an ugly way to game this system, but I think it’s a possible way out …
Next year your tax filings might be a bit more interesting, but at least you’d have coverage when you need it.
One last idea: are you still able to use the provincial health care system where you lived in Canada?
That could be another way to geo-arbitrage your way around this mess.
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You actually made me curious about this …
I found a possible alternative with BCBS of Illinois:
http://www.bcbsil.com/shop-plans-and-products/individual-and-family-insurance-plans/temporary
Then there’s this that will definitely interest you:
http://www.bcbsil.com/shop-plans-and-products/special-enrollment
“You have had a qualifying life event — and therefore qualify for the special enrollment period — if …
You can prove that your health insurance company violated its contract with you.”
I would ask a legal advocate for help with proving this, but it would appear that the state’s unwillingness to pay benefits would in fact be “specific performance” of the health care contract, and that would itself be a qualifying event.
Either way, I think you have some other options, and you might not need to move to Florida after all. 🙂
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You’ll say we are to blame because we elected this piece of garbage. And yes, you are right, we are paying for our own collective idiocy. Let this situation at least serve as a warning to people who vote under the influence of empty clichés and silly lies.
A cold, blunt, but very true statement. I wish it were a warning that more people would heed, but from my perspective, it has been ignored (see George W. Bush, Chris Christie, Donald Trump….the list goes on).
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Like everyone else, I am gobsmacked to read this. And to realize how little national attention this is getting!
I am wondering about the hospitals and medical networks. They are missing out on a lot of income when people put off their doctor’s appointments, high-tech tests, procedures, surgeries, and the like. I am surprised they are not making a fuss, they are usually very well-connected.
And speaking about surgeries, have you contacted the social work or financial department of the hospital where you are to have your operation? They may be able to work out some sort of deal for you, or space out payments, or who knows, finance is not my area. I just know that they occasionally work with patients on payment issues.
Finally, forgive me if you know this already, but if this is your first surgery, the painkillers make you very constipated. Be prepared with OTC stuff.
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I wish people started speaking out about this but, right now, everybody seems very passive. I don’t know what else needs to happen to wake people up. If we all started making a stink, even just on social networks, it would make a difference. There are 365,000 people affected by this. We could do something about this if we all worked to raise awareness collectively.
In the meanwhile, polls say that Rauner has a 70% approval rating, which is somewhere up there almost in Putin territory. That’s just insane.
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So people actively support freezing their own health insurance policies? What possible reason do they give for this support?
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These are different people, of course. The ones who support Rauner have a visceral, intense hatred for anybody identified as “state workers.” They think we all deserve it.
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Still 70% support is staggeringly high. It must mean that there are some state workers who approve of him? I am just really astonished that this is happening.
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