Illinois House committee passes race and gender quotas for Health Benefits Exchange Board
“It just seemed wrong to me, that you would deny a woman, or a person of color, or someone from downstate, a seat on this governing board, just based on who they happen to be, as opposed to their merit and their talent.”
Last year in National Review Online, columnist John Fund excoriated Illinois state Senate members who passed an ObamaCare health insurance exchange bill that included convoluted and unfair quotas based on race, gender and geography, among other things, to determine the composition of the exchange’s governing board. That an Illinois House committee on Dec. 1 passed the same requirements on a party-line vote is stunning.
According to the legislative text, when a governor appoints members to the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Board those people must “reflect no less than proportional representation of the geographic, gender, cultural, racial and ethnic composition” of the state.
This standard applies to all residents of Illinois, not just recognized minorities. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, there are 12.9 million Illinoisans. Since there are 13 positions on the state-funded exchange governing board, the racial and gender quotas are fairly simple to figure out.
The board would be required to include nine whites, two blacks and two “others.” Women would get seven of the 13 seats. If the quota for any one race or gender is filled, future appointments to members of that category would be denied.
The Illinois Policy Institute’s Executive Vice President Kristina Rasmussen testified in a House committee hearing that:
“It just seemed wrong to me, that you would deny a woman, or a person of color, or someone from downstate, a seat on this governing board, just based on who they happen to be, as opposed to their merit and their talent.”
In response, the sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, tried to explain the provision away as a “math problem” and then tried to argue that some groups could actually get more than their proportional representation allotment.
After committee members pointed out how that was impossible per the text, state Rep. Mary Flowers, a Democrat from Chicago who belongs to the Illinois House Legislative Black Caucus, took up the issue, saying:
“Race should not be an issue when it comes down to health care. Because the board should represent the people in the community … as far as access to health care.”
After Rep. Flowers directed the sponsor to revisit the subject “because that language [was] not in the best interest of this bill,” Rep. Gabel promised to come back with an amendment to rectify the language. A new version of the bill removes the “no less than proportional” wording but keeps the rest of the language in tact.
This is a necessary development, because, as written, the original proposal makes a mockery of opportunity and advancement instead of focusing on the merits of individuals.