Illinoisans for Healthcare Action
As the cost of healthcare continues to climb, we're uniting advocates and those at the forefront of the challenges – patients and healthcare professionals – to champion healthcare affordability in Illinois. Our goal is to drive policy change in healthcare by bringing people together, leveraging your stories, and equipping you with the tools to advocate for solutions.
1) Organize
To create a unified force for change, we're building an organized constituency of dedicated advocates who are passionate about advancing healthcare affordability.
Join Illinoisans for Healthcare Action
Joining is as simple as filling out our sign-up form. This form provides us with essential details about you and also invites you to share a brief quote explaining why you're committed to policies that promote healthcare affordability. This empowers us to share a collection of constituent stories and perspectives with legislators, amplifying your voices.
Our Goals
2) Train
Prepare to make a powerful impact through our training sessions, facilitated by advocacy and issue experts. We'll provide you with the tools you need for persuasive storytelling, effective communication, and impactful advocacy.
These training sessions are designed to empower you to engage confidently with legislators, media outlets, and the public, amplifying your influence and driving change.
All training sessions will be recorded, ensuring that even if you can't attend in real-time, you won't miss out. We'll also share materials with all participants to ensure you have access to valuable resources.
For patients and healthcare professionals, we offer specialized resources tailored to your unique experiences.
3) Advocate
We're here to facilitate your direct engagement with legislators and equip you with the essential information and resources required to become an effective advocate for healthcare affordability.
From offering call scripts and email templates to providing fact sheets and scheduling meetings for you, we ensure that you're fully supported with the tools you need to make your voice heard. Our goal is to make advocacy as straightforward as possible, so you can focus on advocating for accessible and affordable healthcare.
Issue Focus
These are some of the issues that will have the potential to significantly impact drug prices and access to affordable health care. But this list is not complete — we look forward to growing and refining this list with your input.
Prescription Drug Affordability Board
Prescription Drug Affordability Boards are structures that oversee and regulate prescription drug prices. In other states that have passed and implemented PDABs, their boards consist of experts in various fields related to prescription drug pricing and affordability, such as healthcare economics, pharmaceutical industry representatives, and consumer advocates. The board does a cost review to assess the affordability of certain high-cost drugs and set upper payment limits on how much payers in their states can pay for those drugs.
Medicare Rate Reference Pricing
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included a historic provision to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, just like any other responsible insurer. By adopting Medicare-negotiated rates as a reference point, states can tap into the federal government's substantial bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices. This approach also helps reduce price variation and encourages market competition, as manufacturers have an incentive to offer their products at rates comparable to those paid by Medicare.
Public Manufacturing of Prescription Drugs
Public Manufacturing of Prescription Drugs involves the state contracting with manufacturers or establishing its own manufacturing facilities to produce generic drugs. This initiative aims to counter monopolistic practices and supply chain disruptions that can lead to artificially inflated drug prices. By directly manufacturing certain drugs, the state can increase competition, stabilize supply, and reduce costs for patients and the state.
Importing Prescription Drugs
The same drugs we pay exorbitant prices for are often available in other countries for a fraction of the cost. We support policies that would allow the state to purchase prescription drugs from international markets where prices are typically lower. This initiative requires rigorous quality and safety standards to ensure that imported drugs meet the same standards as domestically produced medications. Expanding the markets where we buy drugs will enable states to foster competition for lower drug prices
PBM Rebate Transparency
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) negotiate drug prices on behalf of insurance plans and employers. Increasing transparency by requiring PBMs to disclose the rebates and discounts they receive from pharmaceutical companies can help prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that the savings are passed on to consumers, effectively lowering drug costs for Illinoisans.
And More…
This is not an exhaustive list — we're dedicated to expanding and refining our list of priority initiatives. Working together, we'll collaboratively identify and advocate for additional solutions to address the challenges posed by rising drug costs and other healthcare affordability concerns. Your involvement with Illinoisans for Healthcare Action empowers you to shape the agenda and drive change.
Get Involved
If you have any questions, please contact Citizen Action/Illinois Deputy Director Anusha Thotakura at anusha@citizenaction-il.org.
Mary Driscoll, RN, Chicago Women Take Action
Kyle Hillman, National Association of Social Workers - Illinois Chapter
Lori Hendren, AARP
John S. Herring, Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living
Timothy Jackson, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Rep. Jennifer Ladisch Douglass, Illinois General Assembly
Dr. Geralynn Kahn, Indivisible Chicago Alliance
Corbin McGhee, Multiple Sclerosis Society
Dr. Selwyn Rogers, University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center
Deb Rosenberg, Chicago Women Take Action
Margie Schaps, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group
Amber Smock, Access Living
Dr. Paris Thomas, Equal Hope
Advisory Group
ILHA has an Advisory Group of expert healthcare professionals and advocates dedicated to healthcare affordability. Their insights and leadership ensure that our efforts are strategic and impactful.
FAQs
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Illinoisans for Healthcare Action (ILHA) is an initiative by Citizen Action/Illinois dedicated to making healthcare more affordable for all Illinoisans. We bring together patients, healthcare professionals, and advocates to drive policy change and improve healthcare accessibility.
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Joining ILHA is easy! Simply fill out our sign-up form and become part of our community committed to healthcare affordability.
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Absolutely! ILHA welcomes everyone who is passionate about healthcare affordability, including patients, professionals, and supporters.
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No, joining ILHA is completely free. We believe in ensuring that everyone who shares our vision can participate without any financial barriers.
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ILHA focuses on organizing, training, and advocating. We connect you with legislators, provide resources for effective communication, and guide you through grassroots initiatives to drive policy changes.
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We will begin offering virtual bi-weekly training sessions starting in mid-October. Our program staff will be available to connect and support in between trainings as well.
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We value your input! Reach out to us on the sign-up form with your suggestions for potential healthcare affordability issues to address.
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ILHA is a nonpartisan initiative. We focus solely on advocating for healthcare affordability and do not align with any specific political party.
For any additional questions, please contact Citizen Action/Illinois Deputy Director Anusha Thotakura at anusha@citizenaction-il.org.