State officials are pushing about 21,000 Illinoisans to drop their state-sponsored health insurance policies and seek new plans that will hopefully be offered under Obamacare, a shift they say could save the state money.
For 24 years, thousands of Illinois adults unable to get health coverage have turned to the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, or CHIP, the state's high-risk insurance pool funded in part with more than $24 million in annual taxpayer subsidies.
Under the program, people deemed uninsurable and others who were dropped from group coverage because they lost their jobs or their employer discontinued the benefit were able to buy private health coverage.
But cash-strapped Illinois is seeking to wind down the program and rid the state of the financial and moral responsibility by forcing these at-risk citizens onto Obamacare.
More at the Chicago Tribune HERE