Be Covered Illinois Summit Reaches Out to Illinois Communities
Blue Cross & Blue Shield (BCBS) of Illinois hosted their first Be Covered Illinois Summit last Thursday at their downtown Chicago location at 300 E. Randolph St. The summit was designed to promote awareness and education about the Affordable Care Act to the community.
Be Covered is a grassroots mission driven campaign which educates and informs citizens without health insurance about new health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act.
The Affordable Care Act consists of two separate pieces of legislation: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
“We realized when we were implementing this law how complicated it was,” said Donna Gerber, Be Covered Illinois’ Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Investments. “If it’s complicated for us and we’re in the business, it’s going to be really complicated for the people it was targeted to which is currently uninsured and underinsured.”
During the summit, several common misconceptions about the Affordable Care Act were addressed. The ten main concerns discussed were:
· Does the Affordable Care Act apply to me?
· How do I find out what I am qualified for and what my options are?
· I am on Medicare, what does the Affordable Care Act apply to me?
· Are these new health plans that good?
· Why can I get coverage now when I could not get it before?
· How do I select the “best” plan?
· Which doctors and hospitals will I be able to go to?
· What if I don’t get insurance?
· Will I be able to afford insurance?
· What should I do next?
Individual citizens and small group plans will have four coverage levels available for purchase defined by cost and value:
· Bronze: Lowest Premium: Plans pays 60% of covered medical services
· Silver: Mid-Cost Premium: Plan pays 70% of covered Medical services
· Gold: Higher Premium: Plan pays about 80% of covered medical services
· Platinum: Highest Premium: Plan pays about 90% of covered medical services
The Affordable Care Act provides health insurance coverage for:
· Hospitalization
· Prescription drugs
· Emergency services
· rehabilitations services and devices
· Laboratory services
· Prevention and wellness services
· Maternity and wellness care
· Mental health and substance abuse services
· Pediatric services
“We currently have 66 Be Covered partners across the state and they help us with information dissemination. They use our materials, we go out and help with presentations, we provide social media content for them, we provide e-mail blasts, anything that would sort of raise the levels of engagement,” said Gerber. “Our goals around the Be Covered campaign are strictly around awareness and education and ultimately to encourage people to enroll.”
A panel of health care professionals answered questions and provided insight into the Affordable Care Act and its implementation.
Along with Gerber, the panel consisted of Rick Jasculca, CEO of Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications; Kevin Cassidy, Divisional Senior Vice President of Illinois Markets for BCBS of Illinois; Elif Oker, M.D., Medical Director for BCBS of Illinois; Clarita Santos, MPH, Director of Community Health Initiatives for BCBS; and Brian Gorman, Director of Outreach and Education for the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace.
For more information visit http://becoveredillinois.org/en/.
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