Expanding Coverage for Mental Health Care with HB1085

On October 31, in the closing hours of this year’s Illinois legislative session, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill – House Bill 1085 – that will expand access to mental health care for millions of people in our state. Part of what we were finding in our health care organizing is that health insurance companies often reimburse therapists a lot less for mental health and substance use care than what those same insurance companies are willing to pay for physical health care. Reimbursement rates to therapists are often so low that therapists have to stop taking insurance or leave the field altogether, which then means that people find it difficult to impossible to find a therapist who will take their insurance plan. That then makes mental health care a luxury only accessible to people who can afford to pay for it out of pocket. The bill we helped pass just this week requires private insurers to pay mental health and substance abuse providers at the same rates as physical health care providers, instead of taking people’s money in premiums and then refusing to pay for the care people deserve. The People’s Lobby organized and developed a team of leaders impacted by this issue, including people who have faced barriers accessing mental health care and therapists who have found themselves unable to make ends meet. We hosted town halls, community conversations, sent more than 400 people to Springfield, organized more than 100 legislator visits, and sent nearly 10,000 letters to legislators to win this campaign.