As missed vaccinations in youth have risen in recent years, EverThrive Illinois (ETI) wants to make sure all young people are protected against preventable diseases. COVID-19 is no exception. We’ve been leading the charge to educate health care providers on vaccine hesitancy, while also generating broader awareness of vaccine availability in local communities. We give […]
Continue ReadingLegislation News: The Latest on Illinois Policies Affecting Public Health June 2021
The state of Illinois’ most recent legislative session concluded with several policy changes to the health care landscape that will positively impact families. Most notably, EverThrive Illinois and our partners at Start Early, Nurse Family Partnership, and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, successfully drafted and passed bill language to allow people with Medicaid to receive perinatal support from a […]
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Upholds the ACA…Again!
EverThrive Illinois applauds the 7-2 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in California v. Texas. By throwing out the Trump-backed challenge to the ACA, the SCOTUS ruled that the states challenging the law failed to prove that they were harmed by the ACA’s individual mandate. The ACA is still the law of the land. The decision […]
Continue ReadingGovernor Pritzker Signs Law to Address Racism in Medicaid
This week, Governor JB Pritzker signed the fourth and final pillar of the 2021 Illinois Legislative Black Caucus agenda. This pillar, bill number HB 158, addresses systemic racism in the Medicaid health care system by requiring implicit bias training for providers, expands access to high-quality, evidence-based doula and home visiting services for people with Medicaid, and […]
Continue ReadingInfertility is a Reproductive Justice Issue
EverThrive Illinois has spent over 30 years working to improve the lives of pregnant people, children, and families in Illinois by ensuring that all people have access to quality affordable health care. As part of our mission and vision for Illinois, we believe every family should have the right to choose if, when, and how they will have children. However, infertility and challenges accessing fertility treatment have created barriers for many […]
Continue ReadingBirth Justice for Black Birthing Parents
After decades of decline, maternal mortality in the U.S. and in Illinois has worsened since 2000 and not all pregnant people are equally at risk. Black pregnant and postpartum women die at six times the rate of white women in Illinois. Women on Medicaid during their pregnancy face almost five times the risk of pregnancy-related death that women with private insurance experience. But to call this phenomenon a maternal mortality “crisis” only captures some of the […]
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