Throughout the spring, we reported several times on a key feature of the federal health care reform package: financial support for state-based high-risk insurance pools that cover those who have been blocked from the individual market for at least six months due to chronic illnesses or disabilities. Illinois currently runs two pools, both under the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan (ICHIP), that service 16,000 people. The federal legislation that passed in March provided funding to expand those existing programs until 2014, when additional protections for adults with pre-existing conditions are put into place.  But the federal funds depended on the General Assembly making a technical change to the ICHIP statute.

Well, the legislature balked on the governor's measure (SB 240, House Amendment 1), which would have allowed the Department of Insurance to extend coverage early this summer using roughly $200 million in federal resources. As the Sun-Times reported yesterday, the delay means that Illinois Department of Insurance Director Michael McRaith must now find a plan administrator willing to insure the new enrollees (instead of just tossing them into the existing ICHIP pool that uses Blue Cross Blue Shield), a process that could take months to finish.

Once again, dysfunction in Springfield means needy residents must wait for crucial services.