Kane County Reporter

The CO-OP Consumer Protection Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Aurora), will now move on to the Senate.

H.R. 954 protects consumers whose Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan failed, including Illinois' Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company, a health care co-op the state closed down in July due to financial collapse.

If policyholders choose not to sign up for another health plan in 2016, it provides an exemption from Affordable Care Act (ACA) penalties. Up to 50,000 Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company policyholders could be affected if the bill becomes a law.

“I have heard heart-wrenching stories from families in the 14th District who have loved ones with cancer and other complex conditions who are now left without a health plan,” Hultgren said. “To make matters worse, any other plan they enroll in on the Illinois exchange gives them not just a narrower provider network, but a totally different one. They are left in a financially vulnerable, rushed and confusing position, as they have to navigate a drastically changed exchange and costs for out-of-network care.”

The Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company went under after it faced a $70 million shortfall this year. The failure of the CO-OP left its policyholders without health insurance.

“(E)xemption from the individual mandate stops the federal government from financially punishing consumers for not having health coverage after their ACA CO-OP fell apart,” Hultgren said. “While we work on a more comprehensive solution to the ACA’s myriad of problems, the least we can do is offer these men and women some financial relief.”