Nov. 1—Union activists and children’s advocates across Illinois are celebrating a huge win after the state legislature approved the nation’s first health insurance program covering every child in the state, including 253,000 children who currently have no health coverage. As a safeguard to guarantee that employers will not abuse the new insurance system by immediately dropping health coverage for families with children, children must be uninsured for a full year.
“Affordable health care for all working families has long been a top priority for labor and All Kids is a great step towards that goal. The sad fact is…the majority of children who don’t have health insurance come from working families. All Kids is a sound solution. It’s not free health care. It’s affordable health care for kids,” says Margaret Blackshere, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.
Providing quality and affordable health care is a top priority for state and local union movements nationwide, and union activists in Illinois were a key part of the coalition that led the fight to pass the “All Kids” bill. Grassroots union members packed town hall meetings around the state to show their support for the legislation, proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). On Oct. 8, more than 2,000 union members and their allies rallied in Chicago in support of the bill.
Two top legislative leaders, Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and House Speaker Michael Madigan, both Democrats, sponsored the legislation, which passed the state legislature Oct. 28.
‘All Kids’ Covers All Health Care
The “All Kids” program will cover doctors’ visits, emergency care, dental and vision benefits, mental health services, prescription drugs and more for all children in Illinois regardless of income, health conditions or citizenship. Parents will pay affordable monthly premiums and co-payments, according to a statement by Blagojevich.
“Every child deserves the chance to be healthy,” Blagojevich says. “Thousands of kids from working-class and middle-class families have fallen through the cracks because their families earn too much to qualify for government programs, but still can’t afford private insurance.”
Nearly 46 million Americans do not have health insurance, and rapidly increasing costs soon will put quality health care out of reach of a majority of the American population, health care advocates warn.
Nearly every employer is confronted with double-digit increases in health insurance premiums and many are facing increases well above 20 percent annually. Most employers try to shift these costs to their workers—who either can’t afford to pay these additional costs or else experience a declining standard of living to maintain access to health care.
Union Activists Scored Multiple State-Level Health Care Wins in 2005
Working family activists in several states are working with health care advocates and lawmakers to develop legislation to ensure affordable health care for working families and have scored several state legislative successes earlier this year.
Recently, the Long Island Federation of Labor mobilized union members, community and business allies to win passage of a Fair Share for Health Care Act. The act—passed in a 17–1 bipartisan vote by the Suffolk County Legislature Sept. 27—prevents large employers from shifting their health care costs and responsibilities to workers, taxpayers and other businesses.
Similar measures were approved by the New York City Council and the Maryland legislature but were vetoed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R).
Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois and Washington State each passed a Health Care Disclosure Act, which shines a spotlight on profitable employers—such as Wal-Mart—that force workers to turn to such taxpayer-funded health care as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) because their employers pay low wages and poor health benefits. The governors in Colorado and Washington vetoed the bills.
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