Health Care
Overview
United Power began to address the specific health care needs of people without health insurance in the 1990s. The campaign had a three-pronged strategy: Expand coverage, increase enrollment, and expand services for people without health insurance.
As a result of these efforts, over 1 million Illinois residents were able to access expanded health care coverage.
Results
As a result of our efforts:
• Established the state’s FamilyCare and KidCare programs.
• The State of Illinois created the Family Care health insurance program which gradually expanded to cover over 400,000 Illinois residents.
• Our Gilead Center enrolled over 100,000 consumers into State health insurance programs.
• With our ally PACT (Public Action for Change Today), we won the right of young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance up to the age of 26 which impacted > 325,000 individuals.
• New state funds were secured to supplement federal funds to expand community health centers.
UPAJ won additional health care victories with the expansion of breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment. In addition, UPAJ has been a staunch ally of the immigrant and refugee community in
protecting All Kids coverage for undocumented children.
Collectively, these health advances made Illinois a national leader in expanding coverage to the uninsured. They set the stage for the next major opportunity to improve the health care system in Illinois, the federal Affordable Care Act.
