State Employee Update: March 17, 2025
More information on the discontinuation of Health Alliance insurance plan
On Feb. 25, Health Alliance’s parent company Carle Health announced its decision to discontinue offering commercial health plans in Illinois at the end of the calendar year with no real justification provided. As a result, Health Alliance will cease its relationship with the state of Illinois effective June 30, 2025 and enrollees in the Health Alliance HMO will need to select a different insurance carrier during the May open enrollment period.
The repercussions of this announcement are far-reaching, as the Health Alliance HMO has more participants than any of the other state group insurance offerings. It is critical that impacted employees and retirees receive proper communication and guidance so they can prepare for open enrollment, and AFSCME has pressed the CMS on that front.
On Friday of last week, the state updated its benefits web page and circulated a FAQ to announce Health Alliance’s decision.
There remain a number of outstanding questions to assess the impact of Health Alliance’s exit on state employees and their dependents. AFSCME continues to meet with the state to ensure members’ access to quality and affordable healthcare is protected.
While there is nothing impacted participants need to do right now, there are steps Health Alliance enrollees can take to prepare for open enrollment:
- Familiarize yourself with the health plans offered by the State: There are four different types of plans (HMO, Open Access Plan, Quality Care Health Plan, and Consumer Driven Health Plan) available under the state’s benefit plan for employees. Employee costs, including monthly premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, will vary depending on the type of plan.
- HMO: This is the plan Health Alliance participants are likely most familiar with. Under an HMO, participants select a primary care physician which then helps direct healthcare services within the plan’s network of providers. Healthcare services are typically subject to a copay.
- Open Access Plan: You can think of the OAP as a combination plan that offers the benefits of an HMO but with access to a large network of providers. If a member uses TIER 1 providers, they have the same level of coverage and copays as the state HMO plans. Additionally, participants have access to a wider group of TIER 2 in-network providers where deductibles and coinsurance similar to the PPO plan are applied.
- Quality Care Health Plan (QCHP): The QCHP is a PPO plan that has a nationwide network of providers. This plan has both a deductible and coinsurance level of payment.
- Consumer Driven Health Plan: The CDHP is a high-deductible health plan. The plan is a PPO just like the QCHP; however the deductible is significantly higher. The State makes contributions to a Health Savings Account to help offset 1/3 of the deductible cost.
- Talk to your doctors: Ask which other health plans offered under the state’s group insurance program your doctor(s) accept. Many of the other available state health plans contract with the same providers under your current Health Alliance HMO.
Updates will be provided as more is learned about the impact on members and the group insurance program.
Trump admin cuts could impact Illinois state government
Donald Trump has empowered billionaire Elon Musk to make massive irresponsible cuts to federal government operations. These reckless cuts will harm working families and retirees, damage our communities and threaten state jobs.
The budget cuts potentially include significant reductions in federal funding to states like Illinois. If federal funds are slashed, the state of Illinois will be forced to make tough choices about what needs to be funded. That means all public services and public service jobs are on the line – transportation, public safety, education, health care, sanitation, environmental protection, social services, childcare, home care and beyond.
This administration has made its anti-public employee views painfully clear from the start. Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, said he wants public employees “to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as villains. We want to put them in trauma.”
Thus far, the administration is following through on Vought’s belief that public employees should be demonized and vilified. Almost immediately after taking office, the administration fired tens of thousands of unionized federal workers. And now the Trump administration has unilaterally terminated the union contract for 47,000 TSA employees—part of the security teams at every airport in the country.
Our union is on the frontlines fighting back against these cuts. AFSCME International has been battling the administration in court to protect vital public services and defend public service workers who have lost their jobs. Our union is winning these cases—but more grassroots action is needed to defend our rights, our jobs and the public services we provide.
Hiring of state employees is going up
The staffing crisis in state government isn’t over, but a new report from the Department of Central Management Services shows that, thanks in significant measure to the efforts of our union, hiring is picking up pace.
From FY 2023 to FY 2024, the state workforce grew overall by 7%, reaching a headcount of more than 51,000 employees. That’s the highest level since 2008. These recent gains have nearly erased the losses in state headcount which occurred during Bruce Rauner’s budget impasse and the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In some areas, such as the Department of Human Services, the state has made major strides in hiring, most notably after an AFSCME grievance win pushed the department to begin converting contract staffers brought on during the pandemic into full-time state employees. This program was a big success, as DHS saw 2,625 new hires—the largest number of new hires in calendar year 2024 of any state agency.
The Department of Corrections, where short staffing is still a serious problem, saw the second largest number of new hires with 1,026. Recent initiatives supported by our union, such as the establishment of regional cadet training centers, should help to push that number up even higher in the coming year.
Other departments are seeing increases in new hires too, such as Children and Family Services (+625), Veterans Affairs (+185), Public Health (+148), Juvenile Justice (+108) and Innovation and Technology (+204).
The report is the result of AFSCME’s advocacy in the General Assembly to require the state to be more transparent about its recruitment, hiring and retention efforts. This report is the first to be published under a new law enacted at AFSCME’s urging. You can read the full report here.
SSEI—Spreading confusion
Every year, state employees in certain titles are notified by the Secretary of State that they are required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act to fill out a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI). That requirement remains in effect. If an employee is in one of those titles, they should have been so notified.
The problem arises with regard to a second form, known as the Supplemental Statement of Economic Interest (SSEI), sent to the same employees.
This additional form contains several questions that are intrusive and unrelated to employment.
AFSCME objected to establishing a new condition of employment without first bargaining with the Union. In response, the administration agreed that no employees would be disciplined for not completing the SSEI.
Now, it is our understanding that the SSEI is again being sent to AFSCME members with the directive to complete the form by May 1. However, the administration’s commitment to not impose discipline for failure to return the form remains in effect, so no discipline should be imposed. Should the administration change its position concerning discipline prior to May 1, 2025, we will provide an update right away but, at this time, AFSCME members should not feel obligated to complete the SSEI.
Watch out for anti-union tricksters
Scammers and fraudsters are everywhere nowadays, trying to convince you to hand over your personal information so they can use it for their own shady purposes.
Groups like the so-called Freedom Foundation besiege union members with mailers, pretending to care about your rights. The truth is that they don’t care about your rights at all—they just want to trick you into mailing your personal information halfway across the country so they can use it to weaken our union.
Don’t fall for their tricks. If you get one of these mailers, make sure you throw it where it belongs: in the trash.