Health care costs have risen rapidly and are among the fastest growing components of business and personal spending. Rising costs are a major threat to access to health coverage and care. Before passing any health care reforms, we need to address the issues at the root of these rising costs, including:

• Major increases in obesity and other unhealthy lifestyles and conditions;
• An aging society that requires more home, emergency, chronic and acute care;
• The costs of managing chronic conditions, ranging from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to asthma, which often stem from unhealthy lifestyles;
• The use of new, more expensive technologies for diagnosis and treatment; and
• The 43 mandates in Illinois that make insurance plans cover an array of services - from chiropractic and in vitro fertilization to mental health - that increase the cost of health insurance policies by 25% to 50%.

To help fix our health system and move us down the road to access and affordability, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is working with a host of stakeholders and offering its expertise in Springfield and in Washington, DC. Our goal is to educate based on our experience working with our 4 million members, 31,000 employer groups and 29,000 health care providers in Illinois.

Currently, legislators in Springfield are considering Illinois House Bill 3923, which in its current form is not the answer. In fact, as it’s written now, this bill would substantially increase health care costs and have a devastating impact on millions of Illinois consumers and businesses. It also would reduce competition among health insurers; gut some important cost control efforts; force cuts in consumer education initiatives designed to improve care and overall health; and lessen health insurers', hospitals' and physicians' ability to invest in technologies and disease management programs that could improve care.

We need changes that will give people in Illinois access to affordable, quality health care, not jeopardize it. Unless it's amended immediately, House Bill 3923 will take us down the wrong road. More work must be done.

Dieter Freer
Senior Vice President
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois

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