Illinois’s health status

Illinois is, according to the United Health Foundation, ranked 31 out of 50 when it comes to health. Illinois health status has been decreasing over the past couple of years (it was ranked 27th a year ago, and it reached an all-time-high ranking of 25 in 2006. What has caused Illinois to decrease their health status in the last two years? There are several key factors: in the past year, immunization coverage declined from 79.8 percent to 76.9 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations. The percentage of prevalence of binge drinkers in the state has gone up 1.4% from last year, making Illinois the 4th worst in the nation. Despite lowering slightly, the violent crime rate is now one of the 10 most violent states in the United States, with 533 offenses per 100,000 population. Infectious Disease cases have also decreased, but not as expected.

Public health funding was also reduced slightly and is also in the Nation’s bottom 15, with only $57/person. This, combined one of the worst percentages of preventable hospitalizations (89.4 per 1,000 Medicare enrollees) indicate that the efficiency of the system needs to be improved, as well as the accessibility. Air pollution, along with cardiovascular and cancer-related deaths also need to be looked upon. These numbers have been lowering, but need to be pushed and be lowered more.

Illinois also has positive health highlights. Some of the state’s biggest health strengths include a low occupational fatalities rate at 4.2 deaths per 100,000 workers, ready access to primary care with 128.9 primary care physicians per 100,000 population and few poor mental and physical health days per month at 3.1 days and 3.4 days, respectively, in the previous 30 days. Also, the infant mortality rate decreased from 11.9 to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in the past 18 years, as well as the percentage of children in poverty (which decreased from 21.8 percent to 14.3 percent of persons under age 18).

Illinois has to work hard to improve their current health situation. With more funding, and more adequate and accessible care, the percentage of the population that lack Health Insurance should lower, and the rankings for the state should rise again.

Illinois health insurance information

About 86.6% of the citizens in Illinois have Health Insurance. Taking into consideration the poor government health funding, Illinois has a relatively accessible health plan, but 13.7% of the population in Illinois still have no Health Insurance. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is average in this state (it stands at 53.3%) and 82% of workers take advantage of the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers. Health Care and Health Insurance coverage needs to reach more citizens in Illinois, and this can be achieved by revising the existing policies and plans in order to make them more accessible to the population.

Despite the poor public health funding, there is a high rate of primary care physicians for the population, which indicates that despite the fact that Health care is can be a bit more adequate, Illinois has an accessible access to health, with an average percentage of population that could get medical care when needed (87.6%). The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 23.8%.

If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:

Best health plans in Illinois

The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Illinois as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.

Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.

Get involved

If you are concerned about Illinois’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.

If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.

Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 E-MAIL:comments@whitehouse.gov State officials: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich 207 State House Springfield, IL 62706 PHONE: 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121 Senator Dick Durbin PHONE: 202-224-2152 (DC office) FAX: 202-228-0400 (DC office) Web Form: Contact Form Official Illinois health insurance information State of Illinois Official Web Site Official government Web site. All Kids Covered State program that offers health care coverage to children, pregnant women and their babies or helps in paying premiums of employer or private health insurance plans. Health Care Information from the State of Illinois Resources that provide specific resources on Illinois health. Illinois Cares RX help for senior citizens and the disabled in Illinois.		Recent Illinois health insurance news Health Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Illinois and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Illinois: