SJ0127

LRB096 22192 KTG 40945 r





  
1

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

  
 
2
    WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States 
3
Constitution states that, "The powers not delegated to the 
4
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
5
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the 
6
people"; and
  
 
7
    WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress has recently passed and the 
8
President has signed into law federal legislation that imposes 
9
mandates on all states with regards to healthcare and 
10
insurance; and requires the expenditure of state funds to 
11
sustain these mandates; and
  
 
12
    WHEREAS, The federal healthcare mandates expand Medicaid 
13
eligibility to include all adults under age 65 up to 133% of 
14
the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) beginning in 2014; and
  
 
15
    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family 
16
Services estimates 600,000 to 650,000 people will be newly 
17
eligible under these federal mandates, requiring the 
18
expenditure of State funds increasing yearly to an estimated 
19
annual State expenditure of $195 million beginning in FY 2020; 
20
and
  
 
21
    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family 
 


 






SJ0127
- 2 -
LRB096 22192 KTG 40945 r




1
Services asserts that under the federal legislation Medicaid 
2
rates paid to doctors will be increased to the level of payment 
3
received for Medicare services, requiring after FY 2014, if the 
4
increased rates are to be maintained by the states, the cost to 
5
the State of Illinois to be an additional $500 to $600 million 
6
annually; and
  
 
7
    WHEREAS, The federal healthcare initiative recently signed 
8
into law requires maintenance of effort from every state, 
9
including, but not limited to, maintaining current eligibility 
10
requirements for adults until the Health Care Exchange is fully 
11
operational, and current income eligibility levels for 
12
children in Medicaid and CHIP until 2019; and
 
13
    WHEREAS, The creation of a new federal system of regulation 
14
for health insurance will be inefficient, unnecessary, not 
15
cost-effective, and an additional burden on the health care 
16
delivery system in Illinois; and
 
17
    WHEREAS, Free and open markets for healthcare can  improve 
18
quality, benefits, and customer service to a level that 
19
government-sponsored health plans cannot match; and
 
20
    WHEREAS, The mandatory insurance measures recently enacted 
21
by Congress and signed into law by the President create a 
22
federally mandated health insurance exchange to compel the 
 


 






SJ0127
- 3 -
LRB096 22192 KTG 40945 r




1
purchase of health insurance by individuals and small 
2
employers; therefore, be it
 
  
3
    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL 
4
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
5
CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge Congress to immediately 
6
initiate and enact legislation authorizing individual states, 
7
by positive action of their duly elected state legislatures and 
8
assemblies, the right and ability to decidedly remove their 
9
citizens and residents from any and all provisions instituting 
10
new federal review, oversight, or preemption of state health 
11
insurance laws; creation of any federally mandated health 
12
insurance exchange or connector; or mandated expenditure of 
13
state funds to maintain a federal healthcare initiative; and be 
14
it further
  
 
15
    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be 
16
distributed to all Members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of 
17
Representatives elected by the people of the State of Illinois.