Sen. Durbin Urges Residents to Get Covered Before ACA Enrollment Deadline on December 15th

PEORIA, Illinois, Nov. 30 -- The office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Illinois, issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today urged those who need health insurance for 2019 to sign up for a health plan before the December 15th deadline. Nearly 350,000 people in Illinois purchase their health insurance in the individual market and eight out of ten of them are eligible for tax credits that help keep their monthly premiums below $100 a month. People in Illinois can call (Get Covered Illinois: 866-311-1119), go online (www.Healthcare.gov), or get in-person help to sign up for health insurance that will cover them next year.

"Despite the efforts of President Trump and the frenzy in Washington over health care, I want to make it clear that health insurance on the individual market is open for business and the deadline to enroll is just over two weeks away," Durbin said. "The Affordable Care Act has brought health insurance to more than one million Illinoisans, provided protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and ended insurance discrimination based on medical history, gender, and age. I will fight to protect these gains and continue to support patients in need and the providers that serve them."

President Trump and his Administration have spent the last two years sabotaging the Affordable Care Act (ACA)--including cutting the open enrollment period in half, ending advertising that encourages and informs people about how to sign up for insurance, signing an Executive Order directing federal agencies not to enforce the law, ending subsidies that help people afford their co-payments and deductibles, and slashing funding for organizations that help enroll people in health plans.

More than 20 million uninsured Americans have gained health coverage under the ACA - including one million in Illinois - bringing our nation's uninsured rate below 10 percent for the first time in history. Thanks to the ACA, insurers can no longer deny coverage due to a pre-existing condition, discriminate based on gender or health status, or impose annual or lifetime caps on benefits. Insurers must now cover important health care: maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and hospitalizations. The ACA also expanded Medicaid to cover millions of newly eligible Americans--650,000 in Illinois--and provided enhanced federal funds to help pay for the expansion population.